


My Heart Searches For Her

by Darsynia



Series: Star Crossed [2]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Data is forced to be sneaky sneaky, Enemies to Lovers, Episode 'Ship in a Bottle', Episode Tag, F/M, Fall In Love All Over Again, Friendship, Humor, Lilly is Queen Elizabeth III, Love Triangles, Romance, alternate character history, holodeck worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:13:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 36,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26750437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darsynia/pseuds/Darsynia
Summary: When Q shows up on the Enterprise and realizes who Lilly is, Picard attempts to negotiate some kind of agreement between them. Q argues that Lilly's opinion of him is hopelessly skewed, given her feelings for Riker. What might have happened, Q asks, if he had been able to woo her first?Data suggests a compromise: For a month, Q will wipe Will and Lilly's romance from everyone's memories--including Will and Lilly. Then Q will have his chance. To ensure fairness, none of them will even know what kind of memories they've lost. At the end of the month, Lilly will have a choice: the memories permanently erased and a future with Q, or the memories returned and Q will wipe his *own* mind of the knowledge of her existence in this century.Q is confident he will win her love.Without her memories, Lilly seeks to solve the mystery before the month is up. All of her friendships are intact, each relationship fully fleshed out with memories to match. All except William Riker. She's convinced they must have been enemies whose disagreement involved Q. If she can heal the rift, Lilly reasons, perhaps she can erase Q's memory of her *and* fix a problem large enough to erase it from her mind!
Relationships: Q (Star Trek)/Original Female Character(s), William Riker/Original Female Character(s), Worf (Star Trek:TNG/DS9) & Original Female Character(s)
Series: Star Crossed [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1944094
Comments: 19
Kudos: 15





	1. Authenticity

**Author's Note:**

> I am firmly invested in the Lilly/Will love story, but at the same time, Q needs (demands) to be addressed. I already know where the love stories in this story are going, and I am convinced you'll enjoy the way it will turn out, so please enjoy the journey! I have NOT included any non-con warnings, and that's because I will not go there, despite what Q is capable of.

_ As if to bring her near, my eyes search for her. _

_ My heart searches for her and she is not with me. _

_ The same night that whitens the same trees. _

_ We, we who were, we are the same no longer. _

_ I no longer love her, true, but how much I loved her. _

_ My voice searched the wind to touch her ear. _

_ Someone else's. She will be someone else's. As she once belonged to my kisses. _

_ Her voice, her light body. Her infinite eyes. _

_ I no longer love her, true, but perhaps I love her. _

_ Love is so short and oblivion so long. _

_ Because on nights like this I held her in my arms, _

_ my soul is lost without her. _

~Excerpt from  Tonight I Can Write (the Saddest Lines)

By Pablo Neruda

###  Chapter One: Authenticity

“Good morning, Your Highness!”

Lilly suppressed a sigh. The Starfleet Partners group she had been encouraged (prodded, pushed, and well-nigh ordered) to join met in the mornings on Wednesdays. Apparently, the Enterprise was a bit of an anomaly. Most of the flagship’s officers were single, and as the most senior spouse on the ship, Lilly was ‘setting a good example’ by participating.

Participating shouldn’t mean ‘listening to QEIII factoids,’ of course, but as a generally diplomatic person, Lilly didn’t want to be rude to Cara Lawrence. She knew that Branson Lawrence, Cara’s husband, was new to Sick Bay. She also knew that both the Lawrences were Kind of a Lot to Deal With, after multiple conversations with both Deanna and Beverly. One did not simply ask Cara Lawrence not to do something, because that could just as easily result in  _ more _ of the thing you asked her not to do. With help from Deanna in particular, Lilly had been trying various subtle approaches to persuade the enthusiastic younger woman to change to a different subject to no avail.

It was sheer luck that the woman had started with facts from Lilly’s childhood as ‘Sarah.’

Today’s fact was that she loved bike riding. Cara told Lilly that this was supposedly because ‘Sarah’s’ upbringing was not wealthy enough to spend time with horses, so she enjoyed the next best thing. This was in no way true, and it took all of Lilly’s patience not to tell Cara that she was utterly and completely  _ wrong. _

As the group walked through the Arboretum, Lilly held back, ostensibly to look at a bright, spiky flower. A black-haired woman wearing an apron met her eye from across the room, and her smile was sympathetic. As everyone dispersed, the same woman walked up to Lilly.

“I think I remember you! You were able to stay on the ship when the Ferengi attacked us, right?” she asked. “I’m Keiko O’Brien, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Hello Keiko, I’m Lilly.” Keiko’s handshake was firm and confident. “You’re right, I did stay on the ship, though it wasn’t on purpose!” 

Lilly saw that the other woman had a small roll of gardening tape in her left hand. Keiko saw her noticing and held it up.

“I feel like you wanted to use some of this on your companion a bit ago, if you don’t mind my saying so.”

Lilly knew she would have to learn how not to be so expressive, if not for her future in her own time, then as a captain’s wife-- but she couldn’t stop herself from laughing in rueful agreement with Keiko.

“I seem to be a target for aggressive friendliness on her part. It’s not malicious that I can tell, so I’m loathe to shoo her, no matter how much I feel like I want to,” Lilly confessed. Without meaning to, she added, “It doesn’t help that she wants to helpfully inform me about a distant ancestor she says I resemble. I’m at my wit’s end to dissuade her!”

Keiko leaned back and looked at Lilly with a critical but appraising look. “I see it,” she said without elaborating. “I suppose you could try coloring your hair. Both the color and style are very reminiscent.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of that!” Lilly blurted. “Thank you! Please excuse me. I think I’m going to go speak to my husband about that, just in case he’d be devastated or something.”

She smiled at Keiko, inwardly wincing as she saw the woman’s surprise at how quickly she was rushing off. Lilly hoped she wasn’t offended, but the idea that she might be able to fend Cara off with a simple appearance adjustment had lifted her spirits so much she wanted to find Will right away.

Once in the turbolift, Lilly looked up at the ceiling and spoke. “Computer, location of Commander Riker?”

_ “Commander Riker is in Holodeck Four.” _

“That’s right, he’s sparring with Worf today. If they’re not both in Sick Bay by now, they can’t have been at it long,” she murmured after commanding the lift to head in that direction.

888888888888

The room’s illumination had been steadily dimming since he and Worf had started the program, and Will was determined not to let the strangeness of the red hued light get to him. He remembered how he’d felt on the  _ Pagh;  _ he’d felt exhilarated, out of his depth, and desperate to prove otherwise. He didn’t need to prove much to Worf, but Will still wanted to prove something to himself: that he wasn’t past the kind of prime of life a human male had to be in to hold their own against a Klingon.

He was failing.

“Haghhhh!” Worf cried out, the sound accompanying a powerful blow that Will just barely dodged. He swung out his own weapon, a blunt mace that had an anti-injury brace around it which did next to nothing to prevent pain when struck (Will knew this because Worf’s was identical, and it  _ hurt) _ . On a whim, Will reversed direction, and as he felt the wind of Worf’s next blow ruffle his hair, he grabbed his own weapon by the brace and jabbed the thick handle back toward the Klingon, hard.

It connected.

The lights flared to life in the next second, which meant the timer had expired. Will blinked owlishly despite the colored tint meant to help them transition back to ordinary brightness.

“Your hand would now be useless had you done that in a real fight, but it may have been worth it, depending on the battle,” Worf said, nodding in respect. He touched his side in a gesture that  _ almost _ felt like it was pandering, but as tired as he was, Will decided to interpret it generously.

“Great workout, anyway,” Will said, wiping his sweat off with a towel. The doors behind them opened, and when he turned, he saw his wife.

“Wow, it smells like wet human in here,” she said, wrinkling her nose.

“How can you detect the change from normal?” Worf asked.

Lilly opened her mouth to answer, but Will walked over and threatened her with his damp towel.

“Sincerely,  _ ew,” _ she said. “I came to find you because Keiko O’Brien just suggested something to keep Cara ‘here’s a fun fact’ Lawrence from spoiling my entire future for me.” She was grinning. 

Worf bowed in their direction and walked toward the in-simulation shower, which would lock the holodeck into its current configuration for a good twenty minutes.

Will lifted a brow. “Well?”

“How attached are you to the blonde?” Lilly asked, a hint of uncertainty touching her features.

“I’m attached to  _ you, _ the blonde is just a perk. Did she think darkening it might add some camouflage?” Will answered quickly, sensing she would reject the idea if she thought he didn’t fully approve. In truth, the longer the two of them lived in peace (it had been around a month, now), the more he expected Q to show up and instantly recognize her. Will had allowed himself to shove those thoughts away, but if he hadn’t needed to be the one to ask his wife to change herself for his own selfish need to keep her with him, all the better.

It had clearly been the right answer, because Lilly walked over and kissed his chest before heading for the door. “The next time you see me, I’ll be brunette, then!” she said, not even turning to say the words in his direction.

Hours later, he was on the couch by the window doing yearly crew assessments when Lilly walked through the door. In place of her wavy, shoulder-length blonde hair was an attractive brown-haired bob. For a heart-stopping minute she looked like the version of Minuet that had been conjured up as his ‘wife’ in a simulation, years before. Lilly’s hair was longer than that version’s had been, but shorter than Min’s hair was when he’d ‘met’ her on the holodeck.

“I’m sorry, miss, but these quarters are already occupied,” Will teased.

“It’s a measure of how much I love you that I won’t pretend that’s a negative comment on how it turned out. I could walk out feigning tears and ruin your whole evening!” Lilly teased.

“I think the term ‘vixen’ would fit your new look very well,” he retorted, standing up to walk towards her. In the brighter light of the doorway she practically glowed. Her freshly washed and styled hair framed her face beautifully, and everything he could have thought of to say drifted away as he looked at her.

“That expression is as complimentary as any number of things you could say,” she told him, sliding her arms around him and turning her face up for a kiss.

“You’re stunning all the time, even confused and damp from a walk in another century,” he said, referencing their first meeting. He kissed her, unable to resist burying a hand in her newly short hair and loving the texture of it.

Suddenly, Lilly stiffened and he pulled back, hoping he hadn’t hurt her somehow.

“I just had a terrible thought. If my body’s in stasis, does my hair even grow? Have I sentenced myself to this haircut for as long as we both shall live?” she asked, her eyes wide.

Will grinned, framing her face with his hands and loving the way her hair no longer tangled up around his fingers as he did so. “How many centuries has it been since you were born? Do you really think there haven’t been advancements to artificially grow hair?”

“Well, you’ve seen my uncle, do you blame me?”

888888888888

It was a few days later when Will was on duty on the bridge and Deanna sidled up to him and said, “So, are you aware you’ve been smiling more often, lately? Does the new haircut have anything to do with that?”

Accompanying this verbal nudge was a mental one, more gentle than her words. To his consternation, Will felt a blush start to rise on his neck. He  _ had _ discovered some unforeseen advantages to Lilly’s haircut, but work was not the right place to picture those activities.

Clearing his throat, Will kept his gaze steady and straight ahead.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Deanna laughed.

He felt rather than saw her move away to sit down, and only then did Will allow himself a smile.

The smile faded into dread a second later.

With his signature flash of light, Q appeared at the empty duty station beside Data’s. Immediately the android began locking out his sister station, his fingers flying too quickly for Will to follow them.

“Your lack of trust is disheartening,” Q said in a deeply disappointed tone. Somehow it still sounded mocking, of course.

“What do you want, Q?” Will demanded. He said it louder than necessary, hoping that Picard would hear him from his Ready Room. Sure enough, a few seconds later, he heard that particular door open and shut.

Q turned around to face him. He was wearing an admiral’s uniform this time. “Why, I’m merely checking in!” he protested. “Tutoring is a tedious business. So many abhorrent,  _ human _ habits to break. Naturally I decided to drop by and see how you all were doing without us.”

“Perfectly well, thank you,” Captain Picard said in a polite, even tone. He walked over to stand beside Will. The reassurance of his captain’s demeanor eased Will’s mind, if not his posture. “Give our regards to Miss Rogers.”

“I will,  _ thank _ you Jean-Luc,” Q said, with thick solicitude. “You’ll be happy to know I personally persuaded the Continuum not to set the Tagran’s atmosphere back the way it was. So you see? I  _ have _ been influenced for the better.”

Will sucked in a breath. After what Q had told him about setting history right after an unauthorized or giant change, he shouldn’t have been surprised at the idea that the Continuum might have reversed Amanda’s generous gesture, but he was.

“We… appreciate your letting us know,” Picard said, barely clinging to politeness. “In fact, if you would convey our gratitude to--”

“Oh, Picard, why do you insist on being so tiresome? Your gratitude would likely cause them to reverse the decision!”

Will gritted his teeth and swapped his clasped hands from behind him to his sides. He was reminded of the way Captain Jellico’s left hand would tremble with the ebb and flow of his emotions. He straightened his own, willing himself not to form them into fists. As he watched, Q flitted from one duty station to another, clearly stalling for no discernible reason. No one would make eye contact with him. Finally, the entity hefted a melodramatic sigh and walked up to stand in front of Will.

“Fine, if you won’t play along, I’ll pass along my message. Amanda would like to request your  _ willing _ participation in a dinner, Riker. Without my presence. She wanted to make that last part abundantly clear-- though, I suppose the abundantly part was for  _ my _ benefit, not yours,” Q told him in a dolorous tone.

“Dinner?” Will repeated, confused.

“She wants a  _ date?”  _ Deanna said.

Will’s left thumb followed the smooth line of his wedding ring almost instinctively until he stopped himself by making a fist. The chance they’d been hoping for had come, but far, far too early. To get Amanda’s help now might be all too easy. She could use her powers to send Lilly back by the end of her proposed dinner out of pure jealousy!

Will realized everyone in the room was waiting for him to speak. Q himself had a quizzical look. “Tell her I’d be happy to,” Will said. Alienating the young woman could leave them unable to contact her in the future, he told himself.

Q frowned. He circled Will, looking him up and down. Will endured it, feeling incredibly off balance. “I expected pushback.”

“Amanda Rogers expressed remorse for what she did that affected the Commander,” Deanna said. “That fosters a different kind of trust.” 

Will was holding himself rigid, so he didn’t look over, but he could feel the way Deanna sought to soothe everyone around her. She didn’t do it often, but the two of them had spoken about the few times she’d tried it. Deanna had joked that she didn’t trust herself enough to be able to gauge whether it had ever worked. 

_ “Trust,” _ Q scoffed, turning his back on Deanna before she had the chance to move any closer. “I already told Amanda you declined, so now I need to know why you didn’t. That’s far more interesting than watching her cling to her old, boring life.” He moved mere inches away from Will and narrowed his eyes. “So tell me: why?”

Will wanted to back away. He wanted to punch Q in the face.

Instead, he said, “Because humans are unpredictable.” Then, he grinned impudently.

Q kept his face expressionless and stared at Will. The seconds ticked by, and with each one gone, Will’s desire to enact some sort of physical retribution on Q rose exponentially.

Picard, it seemed, was equally perturbed.

“Q! End this. You got your answer, surely--”

“You’re more relaxed. Less angry. Something’s different,” Q said suddenly. He took a giant step backwards, nearly stepping on Deanna, and pointed at Will. “Computer, what has changed in Commander Riker’s life since I last appeared on your ship?”

_ “Commander Riker was relieved of his post on Stardate 46361.2, and reinstated on 46362.8. During that time period--” _

“I must object to your use of our resources on your own personal--” Picard’s voice was strident, but it wasn’t loud enough to drown out the pertinent information. Ordering the computer to halt its answer would have been even more suspicious, so Will didn’t blame the captain for trying.

_ “--Riker was married to Lilly Picard at 13:06 hours on--” _

“Married?!” Q whooped, snapping his fingers. The computer’s voice cut off and white rose petals began to drift lazily from the ceiling across the whole bridge. “And to a Picard?  _ Jean-Luc, _ do you have a secret daughter? How delicious!”

“I do not. I insist that you remove these adornments from my bridge immediately!” Picard snapped, brushing an offending petal from his shoulder. “You have your answer. I must request that you remove  _ yourself _ as well.”

“I categorically refuse!” Q said jovially. “I must meet this mythical creature.”

He snapped his fingers.

888888888888

Though Lilly’s expertise in teaching was outdated in both practice, knowledge, and scope, she was still really good at reading books to groups of small children. As such, she made the rounds of the younger students’ classrooms to do just that. Sometimes she dug up favorites from her own time, and other times she relied on Data to search for popular options to replicate for her.

She had just gotten to a critical point in the book about starfish she was reading to Alexander’s class when she found herself on the bridge.

Lilly looked around from her crosslegged position on the floor and saw that nearly everyone was standing, facing a tall, smiling man wearing an admiral’s uniform. The floor was scattered with what looked like perfectly formed white flower petals. The way Will was glaring at the admiral made Lilly frightened. His hands were curled into fists, and the expression on his face could be considered insubordination all by itself.

The admiral was staring at her and smiling. The fact that the man could maintain such an expression while surrounded by obvious animosity from every other person visible was quite strange. Lilly grabbed one of the petals and placed it in her book to hold the place and stood.

“Mrs. Riker, I presume?” the admiral said. His rapt attention made her supremely uncomfortable, so she walked over to Will and slipped her hand around one fist.

In a swift motion, he loosened his fist only to grab her hand in his almost as tightly. It  _ hurt, _ and that confirmed to her that something was very wrong. There had been no fanfare, no casual comments by Will about welcoming an admiral aboard, and the ship hadn’t slowed or stopped.

“There, you’ve seen her, Q,” Will said.

Lilly squeezed his hand as tightly as she was able. His own grip tightened. She knew her hand would bruise, but this was their only reassurance in that moment, and it was worth the pain.

Her only other thought was that they’d only had a month together before this moment had arrived. It didn’t seem fair.

“I see by her reaction that you must have given her a terrible impression of me,” Q said. His words were unhappy, but he didn’t direct them at Will or anyone else on the bridge. Q looked from Lilly to Will and back again, narrowing his eyes in obvious suspicion. It was terrifying.

“It seems like I’ve been summoned for some sort of impromptu introduction,” Lilly said, tugging her hand free of Will’s. She gathered her courage and stepped away from her husband and toward Q, her voice businesslike and cold. “Unfortunately, I’m very busy at the moment. Maybe another time.” Lilly looked over toward where Worf usually stood while on duty, and smiled to see her friend was indeed there. “Worf, if you could? I was in the middle of reading to Alexander’s class.”

“Gladly,” Worf gritted out.

The now-familiar tingle of the transporter beam forced Lilly’s eyes shut, and when she opened them, Alexander’s teacher was standing among the students, and they were all looking at her in surprise. She smiled at them, rubbing her injured hand to ease the ache as she spoke to reassure them.

“I’m so sorry. There’s a visitor to the bridge who is very rude. It might happen--”

In the span between one word and the next, Lilly found herself on the bridge.

“--again,” she finished. Will stepped in front of her this time, and Picard started speaking, his voice angry. Lilly tuned it out and held up the book for Worf. “Maybe just the book, this time?” she suggested.

Worf obliged. At least the kids wouldn’t have to miss finishing the story.

“Is reading a book to little children really more interesting than meeting me?”

Lilly started in surprise. The words had been spoken so closely to her ear she could feel his breath against it. She stopped herself from turning her head. Will had told her the man could teleport anywhere, so he must have done so to disconcert her.

It’d worked.

“Promises I’ve made are always important,” she said. She could see that Will and the captain had moved to flank her. Q moved out of their way, standing face to face with her. “Even promises to children,” she added, meeting his eyes. Lilly hoped her expression was as chilling as she was trying to make it.

“I can see why you like her, Riker,” Q said.

“Good. Are we finished?” Will sounded furious.

“Finished? But I don’t even know her name! What harm could there be in--”

Lilly interrupted before Picard could. “I’m afraid that’s all I have time for this morning. I am scheduled to read a book to a different class in…” she checked her watch. “...two minutes ago. If you’ll excuse me--”

She’d been looking at Q, but beside her, both men had stiffened the instant she’d turned her wrist to check the time. Q’s face changed too, his dark eyes tracing over her face with intense interest. The change in all three told her she’d made a serious mistake.

“Is that a  _ wristwatch?” _ Q asked, his eyes lighting up.

Lilly opted for bravado. “Send me back to class. Now.”

“That’s quite a regal command, wouldn’t you say so, Commander?” Q said softly. Eyes wide, he reached a trembling hand out as if to touch her hair, and Lilly turned on her heel and walked toward the turbolift. Now that the thing she’d been dreading had happened, she wasn’t going to simply give up, not after the happiness she’d experienced over the past few weeks with Will.

Q appeared in her path.

Lilly swore under her breath. She’d forgotten that he had that ability. On a whim, as Will, Deanna, and Jean-Luc started toward the two of them, she looked over at Worf. He raised an eyebrow, and she nodded, hoping she understood him properly.

She was transported to a hallway. It took Lilly a second to recognize that she was standing outside the doorway to Holodeck Four. That was the location of most of the excursions she, Worf, Alexander, and Will went on every week. With a deep breath to steady herself, she considered her options. 

She could go into the holodeck, fill it with duplicates of herself and try to blend in until Will or Picard devised a plan. She could go to her quarters, replicate a pair of noise cancelling headphones, and curl herself up into a ball and ignore anything and anyone. She could stand still and wait for Q to appear again and tell him all of the reasons why William Riker, her  _ husband, _ was a better match for her than anyone ever born or yet to be born.

None of those options would buy her much time, given that her opponent was an omnipotent being capable of simply  _ willing _ her to love him, however.

The thought made her skin crawl.

“God, how much more complicated can this  _ get?” _ she groaned out loud. She hugged herself and shivered, wishing she was wearing a long-sleeved shirt. Then she turned around and nearly yelped.

Q was there, quietly watching her.

“I’m sure you know how disconcerting that is,” she said, crossing her arms and frowning.

“I have an inkling,” he said. He tipped his head to the side and looked her up and down, crossing his own arms as if to mimic her. “I should have known I could do it. I’d never doubted myself before. I got caught up in the novelty of the experience, I suppose.”

There was something almost oppressive about the intensity of his expression as he looked at her. The sheer possessiveness of it made her want to find a replicator, conjure up a blanket, and disappear inside of it.

“I have so much to show you,” Q said. He took a step toward her, and Lilly backed up until she hit the bulkhead behind her, shaking her head.

“Go away,” she said. “I’m not who you think, I won’t do what you want.” She felt a powerful urge to start crying and resisted it with all her might. Had some odd switch been thrown back in her own time in America, and ever since then, she would never be able to settle in one place and one state of mind for more than a few months?!

She had to get out of there. Lilly didn’t want to spend any more time alone with Q. She held out a hand toward him, palm out, and scanned the corridor around her. The closest turbolift was to her left. All Q would have to do would be to sidestep into her path, but Lilly decided to go for it anyway. She hugged her arms around herself again and started for the lift.

_ “Wait,” _ Q said, hushed. His expression was desperate, and he reached out his hands as if to bracket her into the space in front of him.

“Computer, is it possible to make a moving forcefield around a person?” Lilly called out.

_ “A moving, cubic section of space can be created around a specific target.” _

“Great,” Lilly said, glaring at Q. “Shield around me for the next ten minutes, even if it’s removed.” She pushed past Q, his hands skittering back as the force field materialized in a rectangle, projected from the ceiling.

She wasn’t four steps away from Q before he’d materialized in front of her again, blocking her path.

“Very good. You’ve adapted to your new reality quite well, haven’t you?” he said approvingly.

Lilly suddenly wished she had access to a communicator badge, like Will’s. She didn’t doubt Q could move every bit as quickly as she could if she had Worf on standby with the transporter beam, but dodging him would sure as hell feel satisfying.

She started forward again, and the force field around her widened to allow her to move without hurting herself. She decided to simply walk toward Q and make  _ him _ be the one to evade her, this time.

Instead, Q simply stood still and smiled at her as she walked close enough to sting him with the force field. It had no effect, this time. By the time she’d stopped in surprise, Q was standing  _ inside _ the field, inches away from her.

“Miscalculated, did you?” he asked, a broad smile lighting his face.

Deliberately not responding, Lilly turned around and started for the turbolift at the far end of the corridor.

“Ouch! That stings!” Q complained. “A little slower, please.”

The horrible realization that he’d tricked her into including him into her Q Repelling Solution made Lilly scream inwardly.  _ All right, but two can play this game, _ she thought, grinning grimly.

Lilly started to run.

A hiss of pain from Q sounded behind her, but after the fourth step Lilly ran straight into a giant pillowy material that stretched from floor to ceiling.

“Computer, cancel force field.”

_ It was Lilly’s own voice, coming from Q’s mouth. _

The pillowy substance clung to her just enough to feel oppressive, and Lilly had to shove at it a few times to completely free herself. This ramped up her anger from Q’s impersonation to a higher intensity level. She  _ threw  _ herself in his direction and stopped herself with a finger barely an inch from his face.

“No matter  _ how _ all of this ends up, you will  _ never _ impersonate me or anyone else I trust. Ever again. Swear it,” she growled at him.

Behind them, a security team beamed in, including Worf. Lilly continued to stare into Q’s eyes, watching him transition from triumph to surprise and finally a grudging glimmer of respect. A few phaser blasts later, Q’s conjured crash barrier was gone, and out of the corner of her eye Lilly saw Will and Jean-Luc standing with a second security team.

“I promise,” Q said, lifting both hands in the characteristic symbol of surrender.

“I meant what I said about promises,” Lilly said. Her throat hurt from the guttural tone she’d used to yell at him. Her arm ached to be held in such a rigid position pointing at him without any wavering.

“I know you do,” he murmured.

_ I know you, _ the unspoken words hung between them.

“Are you all right?” Will called out.

Q’s sober expression melted into a sly smile, and he once again traced his eyes across her face before letting them drift lower. When their eyes met again, his eyebrows lifted as if to say, ‘see how close we’re standing?’

Lilly lowered her hand slowly. Then she started for Will.

Q’s hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. The action itself was shocking, but the touch was electric, the sort of thing that romantic stories harped on and songwriters wrote songs about. It felt good. It felt wrong. It was just another impersonation.

“It won’t work,” Lilly said flatly, not even turning to look at Q.

“What won’t work?” he asked. He sounded genuinely curious, slightly excited, even, but she wasn’t going to fall for it.

“Release my wife,” Will said.  _ That  _ feeling of electricity was real, Lilly assured herself.  _ That _ leap of her heart to hear  _ that _ voice was right.

Q let go of her.


	2. Compromise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Picard negotiates a compromise to avoid Q simply leaving with Lilly against her will. He gives them three days before the memory loss kicks in... three days for Will and Lilly to tell each other goodbye for now, or goodbye forever.
> 
> Neither of them are willing to go easily into that good night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I include a fictional birthday for Will in this story, even though it doesn't technically fall in line with where it would be in comparison to where the Alpha Onias III episode (which starts with his birthday celebration) fell in the season (Season 4, episode 8 I think). 
> 
> I just wanted to signpost that I do know his birthday doesn't fall during this Stardate range!

###  Chapter Two: Compromise

Jean-Luc Picard’s reputation as a diplomat was in no way unearned.

He masterfully persuaded both Q and Lilly that they should treat their conflict like a negotiation, even though Q had practically all of the power. Will was stunned to watch Picard’s careful, respectful cajolery turn Q from a dominant force with no check on his power to just one side of a two-sided argument.

In the end, it was Lilly who was intractable on one particular point: she wanted Will by her side through any discussion of her future.

Will was grateful that Q agreed, but remained wary of his motives.

Forty-five minutes after Q’s appearance on the Enterprise, Picard stood at the head of a heavy wooden table on Holodeck One. Lilly and Will sat on one side. Q sat by himself on the other side. Data and Picard sat at either end. Besides the table, the room was unchanged; Lilly had requested that the blank grid lines of the Holodeck remain. Privately, Will admired her insistence. The lines were visible from every angle, and seeing them reminded everyone of where they were. Lilly Riker refused to be reassured by a simulated location.

“I think it is important for each of you to communicate what it is that you want out of these proceedings, even if you know that your expectations are unrealistic. To that end, I am going to ask Q and Lilly to clearly state what their ideal outcomes will be,  _ without _ objections from the other side of the table,” Picard said. He rested his fingertips on the table and looked first at Lilly and Will, then at Q. “Mr. Data is here as somewhat of a mediator should things go awry. Both of you have stated that you’re comfortable with his ability to act as a neutral party if need be. You should know that I am well aware that your goals conflict. All parties  _ will _ remain civil.”

“You’re  _ staring, _ Picard. I’m here, aren’t I? I could have simply--”

Picard barked out a quick word that halted Q’s mocking tone mid-sentence. “Stop.” He sat down, and Will allowed himself a small grin when he noticed that Jean-Luc’s chair was higher than everyone else’s. “You will state, in order: your ideal outcome, your idea of a compromise before any negotiations, and the result you would be least inclined to accept.” He leaned back in the chair and tugged his uniform shirt down. “In the interests of helping Q manage his expectations, Lilly may go first.”

Lilly didn’t stand, but she sat up ram-rod straight at the very edge of her chair. She directed her words at Q, not Picard, and she squeezed Will’s hand with impressive strength the entire time she spoke.

“My ideal situation is this: I do not wish to have any interactions with Q. I would like to honor the marriage vows I made, meaning that I want to remain with my husband until the end of his natural life. At that point, I wish to be returned to my own time.”

Will had been watching Q’s face, just as Lilly was. His unhappiness was evident, and at her last words, his brows furrowed and he gripped the table, looking away.

“Shall I continue?” Lilly asked sweetly. Q turned his head swiftly, staring at Lilly again, and Will squeezed his wife’s hand in warning.  _ Don’t antagonize him! _ he silently begged.

“Go on,” Q said, shifting his gaze to Will. Will stared straight back.

“My idea of a compromise would be to be allowed to live my life with Will until his death, and only then be asked to spend any time with someone else. A result I will not accept is any life that doesn’t take into account my feelings for Will.”

Q’s expression grew increasingly more sour as Lilly spoke, but to Will’s surprise, he didn’t interrupt. The logical conclusion was that Q’s arrogance and determination were at war with his attachment to Lilly. That wasn’t very comforting, but Will still felt confident that Q’s answers to the same questions would be so outrageous that he would have secured Lilly’s resistance by the end of hearing them.

“Q, your answers?”

“My ideal situation? I leave here after this meeting with Lilly. I promise not to use my powers to influence her emotions, and if she wishes, we can even visit her friends as long as they are alive!” Q spread his hands out in a gesture he likely hoped emphasized how reasonable he thought he was being. Then, he leaned forward, his tone turning intense. “Over the next  _ millenia, _ I will show her the wonders of the universe.” Q sat back and looked over at the captain, raising an eyebrow. “Well, Picard?”

“I have no intention of passing judgment on any of your statements,” the captain said. “Please continue with your compromise.”

“Of course, Jean-Luc. Compromise? I told you my compromise already.” Q looked right at Will and smiled. “I suppose I didn’t follow the rules. In penance I’ll forfeit my ‘ideal’ solution and continue to the final question.” Q’s smile dropped off of his face, and Will recognized his expression from when he had acted as a judge for all of humanity. “I will not accept any influence by Commander Riker.”

“It’s too late for that, Q,” Will said, unable to help himself. Lilly squeezed their still joined hands, leaned over, and kissed his arm. 

_ “Is _ it too late? Have you forgotten what I’m capable of, Commander?”

“This is your reminder to remain civil,” Picard said.

“May I ask a question, Captain?” Data asked.

“You may.”

“Am I correct in understanding from your statement about what you’re ‘capable of,’ that you have the ability to alter human memories?” Data asked, his expressionless face angled toward Q.

Lilly’s gasp was audible. Q glanced over in her direction before turning to answer Data.

“Yes.”

At this, Lilly ducked under Will’s arm to rest her head against his chest. He felt completely powerless to protect her, now. Though Will had known Q’s powers were practically limitless, hearing about the practical application of such power was crushing. Having been a student of Picard’s diplomacy for his years on the Enterprise, Will now turned his concern toward what Q could gain by negotiating at all.

Q must truly think he had a chance to win Lilly’s affection. That was the only thing he could possibly have to gain.

Data turned toward Picard. “I may have a suggestion that would qualify as avoiding each party’s worst case scenario. It would involve actions which violate the autonomy of the ship’s population, however. I would like to ask the same question of each side.”

“Violate our autonomy? Proceed with your questions, Mr. Data, with caution,” the captain said, his eyebrows lifted.

Data turned toward Lilly. “You stated that you will not accept any scenario which would exclude your feelings toward Commander Riker.” Lilly nodded, and Data turned to Q. “You stipulate that Commander Riker must not have any influence over Lilly, correct?”

“Correct,” Q said.

“Sir, I propose that, with Q’s assistance, we create a limited time period in which both of those stipulations would be satisfied. If all parties agree, the memories related to the relationship between the Commander and your niece could be removed temporarily--”

Will felt a surge of indignation and anger. “Use her name, Data. Her  _ full _ name.”

“I apologize, Commander. I understand this is a difficult situation,” Data said. He looked regretful, and for the first time in a long while, Will felt that the emotion was feigned rather than genuine-- even though he knew that all of the android’s emotions were technically fake.

“Are you suggesting that  _ everyone _ with knowledge of the relationship would lose their memories of it?” Picard asked, incredulous.

“It’s not beyond my abilities, Picard.”

Q’s casual acceptance of the plan wasn’t surprising to Will, but observing it was galling. He opened his mouth to say something, but the words dried up when he saw Lilly’s face. It was, horrifyingly,  _ hopeful. _

“Lilly--” he whispered, stricken.

Her eyelashes were wet, but her cheeks were dry. “I don’t think Data’s done explaining.”

“How could you  _ possibly--” _

“Your wife is correct, Commander. I am not finished with my suggestion,” Data said.

Data’s phrasing bandaged a bit of Will’s wounds, and he drew in a ragged breath. “Go on, then.” For Lilly’s part, she drew in on herself, physically pulling away from him in the process. That hurt, but not as much as her possible acceptance of what Data was describing. Will pushed his chair back and crossed his arms, forcing himself to listen.

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“I propose that at the beginning of an agreed upon time period, such as thirty days, Q obscure but not erase the memories of your relationship and marriage from everyone on the ship. During that time, with some restrictions, he would be free to attempt to convince Lilly of his value as a suitor,” Data said. “At the end of the time period, she would have a choice: allow the memory loss to become permanent and agree to an… association with Q, or reject him and regain the memories for herself and the rest of the ship.”

“What’s to stop him from simply refusing? What keeps him from showing up again a month later and demanding to do it all again until he figures out a magical combination that makes me not hate him?” Lilly demanded, standing up and pointing toward Q. The way he had been watching her interactions with Will with anger made her blood boil. How  _ dare _ Q act as if affection between herself and her  _ husband _ was an affront to him!

“My plan includes a promise to wipe his own mind of your existence should you choose to regain your memories,” Data said.

“What makes you think I would agree to  _ any _ of this?” Q said, also standing. He angled his head toward Data.

“I suspect you’ll accept these terms, Q,” Picard said. He leaned forward, resting his weight on his clasped hands. “You don’t want an empty, loveless existence any more than the rest of us do, no matter how much you claim to enjoy the chaos you sow across the galaxy. It seems to me your choices here are either to force someone you claim to care for into that exact situation, or take a chance on this opportunity.”

“If we do this, I don’t leave the ship at all during the time period,” Lilly said.

“You aren’t seriously considering this proposal, are you?” Will’s voice behind her was angry and incredulous. Lilly bowed her head, supporting herself with her palms flat on the table instead of looking back at him. She understood his anger, but understanding didn’t make her position any less precarious!

“I promised to listen to Jean-Luc Picard, not  _ you, _ Commander,” Q said, raising his hand.

“Don’t!” Lilly cried out, lunging for Q in desperation. Worf had told her about being transported to strange planets to perform frightening tasks at the whim of this madman demigod. That had been for  _ fun; _ what would Q seek to do to a rival?

The table was too wide for her to connect, and Q merely stepped back and watched her collapse in the middle of it, her hand outstretched as if to beg him to reconsider.

“Please,” Lilly asked, lifting her head to look at him.

A tremor of something crossed his face. “Can you control him?”

Lilly laughed. “Can anyone? I can  _ ask, _ if that’s what you mean.” Q tipped his head to the side as if confused, and Lilly couldn’t resist adding, “That’s what people who respect their partners do.”

A look of admiration crossed Q’s face, which made Lilly very uncomfortable. As she slid down from the table, she caught her ankle against the edge of it and hissed. The very next second she was standing instead of climbing down.

Standing-- but next to Picard, not Will.

A second tiny blossom of hope sprung up in Lilly’s chest. She’d been first encouraged by the agency she might have in her own future thanks to Data’s suggestion. Now, she recognized the difference between transporting her to Picard versus to Q’s own side. He was capable of the latter, likely wanted to do the latter, but he hadn’t.

“If you demand to remain on the ship, I demand the ability to interact with you twice a day,” Q said. He had sat back down, but Lilly saw that his chair was at the same height as the captain’s. He was also fiddling with something in one hand. 

“Twice a--” Will started to say.

Q let out a sharp “Ah!” sound and slammed the object down on the table.

It was a gavel.

Lilly walked swiftly over to where Will was seated, resting her hand on his shoulder before looking evenly at Q. “Twice a day?” she asked, lifting her eyebrows.

“I could take you from the crystal forests of the Shenayy sector to the fire desert of Laimasch in the blink of an eye, and you want me to woo you without leaving this metal monstrosity? I require a large concession in return!” Q half stood in indignation, pointing at her with the gavel.

“I don’t want you to  _ woo _ me at all!”

“I’ll want a concession for that.”

“All right, if you’ll both sit back down,” Picard said. “I think everyone at the table would agree that  _ giving up her husband _ for some time, possibly forever is an adequate concession to the latter issue, so we should move on.”

Lilly located her chair and dragged it as close to Will’s as it would go, which wasn’t as close as she’d been able to earlier in the meeting. She knew if she looked over at Q, he’d look smugly satisfied with her discovery of his petty meddling, and she was sorely tempted to simply give up on her chair and sit on Will’s lap.

Instead, she anged her body toward him and reached out a hand. His hand when he took hers was warm and confident, and that gave her strength. Feeling grounded in Will’s love reminded Lilly of something she’d wanted to say.

“The reason I don’t want to leave the ship is that I want to be near Data. You can alter time, change my perception of how quickly or slowly it flows, but part of your promise must be not to alter Data. That’s a concession that benefits the ship, and I suppose the ship’s concession for that is having to deal with you visiting twice a day,” Lilly said, lifting her chin. She felt like she  _ had _ to make him understand why she was demanding such things.

“That is the reason I asked Commander Data to be involved in the first place,” Picard said. “As for further concessions, is there anything that either of you wish to assert?”

Q snorted, leaning forward in his chair as if to intimidate Picard, though they sat many yards apart. “You believe we’re finished? So soon? I give up nearly everything, nothing guaranteed, and she has given up practically noth--”

Lilly couldn’t let him finish such an outrageous statement. She rolled her chair up to the table and slammed both of her hands down flat on the surface. It was loud, and it stung.

“I’m giving up a  _ whole person, _ you insensitive, ridiculous--”

“You think I’m not? I could take you with me  _ right now. _ It might take five hundred years, but you’d forgive me… eventually,” Q said, his eyes flicking over her face like a caress. Their eyes met, and again she felt like he was exerting some sort of subtle positive influence from his powers on her.

She wanted to look away, but as she held his gaze, Lilly saw a tiny spark of uncertainty, or perhaps desperation.

“I wouldn’t,” she said quietly. “To believe that, you’d have to believe  _ you’d _ give up eventually, too. Would you?”

One side of his mouth curved up. He shook his head.

“Which is how we find ourselves here,” Picard said. His voice was gentle, and Lilly looked over at him to see that the captain was watching Will. Lilly started to turn her chair, but it seemed to be locked in place.

“Stop that,” she said to Q. He was rolling his eyes, so Lilly slid down out of her chair, striking her head once on the edge of the table with the tight fit. Crawling out, she aimed for the regulation Starfleet shoes and black slacks in the nearby chair. She was about to brace herself to get up on Will’s knees-- only to see that it was Q in the chair, instead.

“Unscrupulous  _ asshole!” _ Lilly snapped. She turned back for the table and pulled herself up to a stand. She looked around for Will, but she and Q were the only ones in the room. “What did you do? Bring them back,  _ now.” _

“I was bored. If you truly want to know what happened, stand beside me and watch. You didn’t miss much.”

Lilly frowned at him, shocked. “You… what? Skipped us forward? I thought the agreement was not to alter time!”

“Not until the agreed period. Picard wanted to give you and Riker time to reconcile your separation, for some reason.”

“Do you even  _ hear _ yourself? How on Earth do you intend to persuade me you’re not a colossal jerk when you act like this!” Lilly refused to cross her arms, knowing the body language would hint at her profound discomfort to him. She’d told herself she would do her best not to show that he affected her at all.

Q stood and moved toward her. She was standing with her hands stiffly holding the edge of the table behind her. Instead of following her instinct to turn and walk away, Lilly squared her shoulders and lifted her chin.

She regretted her decision right away. Q walked right up to her, his body offset with hers. When he was close enough to touch, he turned at a right angle and leaned over to whisper in her ear.

“We’re not on Earth.”

Exasperated, Lilly made a face and looked over at him. Q’s face was  _ very _ close. She whipped her head away from his. He chuckled, and she desperately tried to ignore her curiosity to know what he was thinking. The next second, she wished she didn’t know. Q had ghosted his hand over her hair and was hovering his hand over her shoulder.

“Imagine coming across a new species. You learn about them by watching a series of holofilms that cover decades of a particular person’s life. First you’re fascinated, but then--” Q had been speaking in a quiet, intense tone, his hand so close to touching her that she could feel its heat, but now he stepped away. “Then, you’re bewitched,” he said, stalking away from her, hands clasped at his back like a pacing general. “There’s just one problem: she’s been dead for many lifetimes.”

“I don’t want to hear--”

“Are you afraid this will  _ humanize _ me?” Q spun around and scoffed at her, speaking the word with clear derision. “So do I. See you in three days.”

With that, Q snapped his fingers and disappeared. Right afterwards, while Lilly was still staring at the space he’d vacated, the door to the holodeck opened. Will and Worf jogged in, Worf with his hand on his weapon.

“I’m fine,” Lilly reassured them. “Mostly.”

Will came straight over to her and folded her up in his arms. Everything about that moment-- his warmth, the way he smelled, the color of his uniform, the way his breath hitched when she kissed his chest --was bittersweet.

“How long?” he asked, his lips in her hair.

“Three days, he said,” she answered.

“My birthday is in four,” Will said hollowly.

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Will hadn’t needed to ask for leave. He and Lilly had gone to their quarters and gone straight to sleep, and when he’d woken to his usual alarm, there was a message from the captain saying he would not be required to report for duty until his birthday.

He’d almost woken Lilly to share how strange it was that Picard hadn’t thought to include his birthday, until he realized the reason.

By his birthday, Will wouldn’t know there was a reason to need more leave.

By his birthday, Will wouldn’t know what he’d lost.

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They spent day two in bed. Will showed her that he loved her, that he didn’t blame her, that he knew she had no control over their situation and would miss her, even when he knew he wouldn’t, all with as few words spoken as possible.

Once she was asleep, though, Will lay awake. He forced himself to look at the possible outcomes of the next month, and what they might mean for Lilly. His conclusions stole all desire to sleep.

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On the morning of day three, they started moving her things into the suite that had once belonged to ‘Lilly Picard.’

With Worf’s help, they coordinated with a transporter room to move most of it, but Lilly and Will each carried a box of small, lightweight items themselves. Will got to the door first, and it didn’t open for him. 

Data must have changed the computer permissions. This was the first piece of physical proof of the way things were about to change; Will would have no reason to have automatic entry into Lilly’s quarters. During Captain Jellico’s tenure on the Enterprise, Data had been on their side, helping to hide Lilly’s continued existence on the ship by selectively interpreting the way she showed up in the ship’s computer. Now, though, Data had been asked to be a neutral arbiter. There was something about losing his advocacy that felt fatalistic to him. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Lilly whispered, her voice barely audible.

“Don’t, sweetheart,” he managed. She tapped at the control and slipped into the room under his arm where he’d rested it on the bulkhead.

“I could get Data to hardwire it,” she suggested, tugging at his free hand to pull him inside. “Maybe that would be just strange enough, if you discovered it, to figure out why!”

“And… what? Steal you away from under his nose?”

“It’s not stealing if he never had lawful possession.”

“Lilly, I’ve been thinking,” Will said, steeling himself for what he was about to say.

It was a measure of how well she knew him that she didn’t make a flippant remark this time. “Go on?”

“Maybe this is a good thing.”

Lilly dropped the dish of hair clips she’d been carrying. She took a second to look at him to be sure he wasn’t kidding, and then marched over and slapped him in the face.

Will took it without moving a muscle.

“I could understand if Data argued that. I might be able to follow it if it were the captain’s logic.  _ Might. _ But you?” Lilly’s voice was cold and distant. “Are you trying to drive me away? That’s the last thing you want me to remember?! How fucking  _ dare _ you!”

“Stress has an effect on your body,” Will said, starting his prepared speech. “He didn’t freeze everything; your cells are still regenerating, you’re still alive, your brain is still learning, adapting.”

“When,  _ when _ I remember us again in a month, I will remember this conversation, William Riker! And I’ll slap you again!”

“I’ll be grateful for it, if you do, but--”

Lilly’s body slammed against his, her hands reaching for his shoulders. She pulled his head down and kissed him fiercely, dragging his arms around her when he didn’t respond immediately. He allowed himself to be led by her, even to the point of settling on the floor, both of their hands scrabbling to remove each other’s clothing. There was no finesse, no subtlety, and it felt to Will like this act was a proxy for their argument. With both of them on their knees, he stretched out to remove his trousers and found Lilly atop him as soon as he was done.

“Love you so much... claim me, make me only yours,” she breathed in his ear. He was overcome by how much he wanted her, how beautiful she was, and how in charge she was in that moment. Then he was lost in sensation as she sank down on him, taking him inside her. As their bodies arched together, Will kissed her lips, her neck, her hair.

Lilly surged up to meet his eyes. “Mark me, Will. He won’t know, he can’t erase it if he doesn’t know.”

Will’s hips stuttered against hers. He pulled her against him and flipped their positions. “Where?” he asked, trailing his lips along her neck. He felt animalistic, possessive.

“Lower,” she said. “Somewhere only I will see.”

She whimpered as he pulled his hips back, settling his legs on either side of her so he could reach just the right place. Will started sucking a kiss on her chest, right in the place where she’d be wearing a communicator badge if she were in Starfleet. Lilly had always said she wished she could have one.

“I am yours, I belong to you,” Lilly whispered, her hand in his hair. Her voice was low and sultry and he loved it. “Not some long-dead man from history. Not some arrogant stranger’s. Yours.” She hissed in pain as he scraped the wound with his teeth, but when he looked at her she was smiling. “Come back?” she murmured, lifting her lower body against his.

Of  _ course _ Lilly had been coming up with her own contingency plans, just like he had! Will refused to feel guilty that  _ his _ plan involved pushing her away while hers involved reeling him in even closer than before. After his birthday, he would hopefully discover the clues he planned to leave for himself. Then it would be up to his own ingenuity to discover what they meant.

Lilly pulled his lips to hers and he gave in. Worrying about her resistance to his plans could wait until evening.

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Will wasn’t amenable to having sex in multiple places around her old quarters, but Lilly didn’t push. They’d spent the entire day before doing the same in his, and Will had confessed that he was worn out. They set up the rooms as they had been before Lilly moved in with Will, but one item stymied both of them: the Wrinekki orb.

“You should keep it,” Will said, pressing it into her hands. “You hold it as comfort, maybe you’ll continue that, even if you won’t remember why.”

“All right,” she agreed. “I suppose it would be strange to have a new object in the same color as your uniform, and not know where it came from. For me, it could just be a pretty object in my favorite color. Though…” she paused, then grinned, thrusting the orb at Will. “You should keep it! It’ll make you wonder why, and maybe you’ll ask around, and--”

“No one will remember enough to tell me,” Will said, a wry smile twisting his lips.

“But, if you can’t remember, won’t that make you want to know why? You'll know you’ve lost memories--”

“The captain said he’ll remind the bridge crew of the memory loss, but it’s not likely anyone will feel an appreciable gap to be concerned over. I’m not sure I’d be concerned about it at all,” Will interrupted.

“Don’t you  _ want _ to figure out a way out of this?” Lilly asked, frustrated.

To her surprise, Will’s demeanor completely changed. It was similar to the way he behaved when he ‘put on’ his authority as a Starfleet Commander. He stood straighter, his expression became more serious, and for some reason he seemed like he was pulling away emotionally.

“I do. I have a plan.” Will looked down at her and he had compassion on his face.

“Oh god, what is it?” Lilly whispered. “You--” she broke off, because when she held her hand out to him, Will  _ backed up. _

“I’ve loved every minute of our time together,” Will said. He sounded like he was speaking to an alien adversary on the bridge.

“Why does that sound so final?” she asked. Goosebumps rose up on her arms.

“I’ve been neglecting my duties these past few days. I can’t afford to put them off any longer.”

“You’re leaving?” Lilly was crushed. “I was hoping if we woke up together, that would be enough to make us wonder why, even without the memories of--”

Will shook his head. “You know Q would never allow that to happen.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “It feels like you’re giving up.”

A glimmer of the true Will Riker showed in his eyes on hearing that. “You know me better than that. By the morning you won’t remember this; for now, I’m sorry, but for all intents and purposes, it’s over.”

As if to disprove those words, he paused ever so slightly at the doorway, his back to her. He was acting as if they were breaking up, but Lilly didn’t, couldn’t believe it. It had to be a ploy, part of his own contingency plan, she told herself. That didn’t stop her tears, though.

“I love you,” Lilly said stubbornly.

He flashed a grin at her over his shoulder.

“I know.”

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Lilly tried not to spend the evening miserable. She started off that way, unable to stop hearing Will’s impassive voice as he tried to convince her their relationship was over. Every thirty minutes, though, as she hugged her pillow and wrote messages to hide all over her apartment (each with varying degrees of truth about the things she knew she was going to forget), Lilly asked the computer where Commander William Riker was.

Every time, he was somewhere else. Ten Forward. Deanna’s office. Picard’s quarters. Engineering. Transporter Room Three. Ten Forward again.

At ten minutes before midnight, Lilly finally allowed herself to sleep, convinced that her husband was laying the same kinds of messages that she’d tried to. She wondered if she would ever get to know what they were.

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Lilly had a message from Picard when she woke up. He reminded her that some memory loss was to be expected because of the agreement with Q, and that she should expect that Q would appear to speak with her at least once that day, likely twice.

She sat back in bed and wondered what kind of memories she could have lost. The easiest explanation was that someone had spoken to her at length about what kind of a person Q was, ‘poisoning’ her mind against him. Lilly supposed it was only fair that she be ‘reset’ back to a point where she could discover how much she disliked him on her own.

That thought made her laugh.

A mental run-through of her friendships told her that there wasn’t anything she would consider  _ missing. _ She could picture each one of her friends and Starfleet acquaintances easily at various points during her time on the Enterprise, and nothing seemed to be different.

_ “Crusher to Lilly?” _

“Lilly here.”

_ “Just got done with the staff meeting-- would you like to have breakfast with me?” _

“I’d be delighted!” Lilly responded, scrambling out of bed. She looked over at the clock, but it wasn’t there. Perplexed, she scanned the room and found it on the second nightstand, which was oddly positioned against the side of the bed. The extra pillows she slept with had obscured it from view. Shaking her head, Lilly dragged the incredibly heavy piece of furniture back against the wall and got dressed quickly. She didn’t bother to even look in the mirror before she left.

Beverly was already in uniform when Lilly tapped the annunciator at her quarters.

“Does this mean we can consider this somewhat of a medical visit?” Lilly asked, laughing as she walked in.

“Maybe a little,” Beverly allowed. “How do you feel? Any large memory gaps, do you think?”

Lilly shook her head and sat down at the table. The doctor had already replicated a few pastries she knew Lilly favored, along with a teacup filled with something that smelled delicious. “You?”

“Nothing that I can pin down. I checked my journal, and there are a few entries missing. I wasn’t expecting that!”

“Oh no! Well, shit, then,” Lilly grumped. At Beverly’s quirked eyebrow, Lilly told her about writing notes to secret around her room. “I guess my assumption that physical things wouldn’t change was wrong.”

“It makes sense that some things would be changed. What if you were married? You couldn’t wake up with a wedding ring on, that would be too much of a tell,” Crusher teased.

“What! That’s ridiculous,” Lilly said, holding both hands out in front of her. She slid a finger down the ring finger on her left hand. “Not even a dent. Who would I even be married to, anyway!”

“Oh, I don’t know, Worf?”

Beverly was focused heavily on stirring her teacup, all of a sudden.

_ “Stop,” _ Lilly groaned. “I am definitely  _ not _ his type. Have you even  _ heard _ of a blonde Klingon? Did I tell you I wore the outfit once, to visit a cave in Q'onoS with Alexander?”

_ Now _ Beverly looked at her. Her eyes were wide. “Really!”

“I got the tassels of the skirt all tangled. I fiddled with them the whole time. The only growling Worf was doing was in frustration, I assure you.”

“I’m just saying, don’t rule it out! Alexander would likely be delighted.”

“Anyway, it couldn’t be Worf. He told me that Q treats him like something barely smarter than a lapdog. I’m sure he’d have just taken me off the ship or winked it out of existence at that point.”

Lilly could tell by the good-natured frustration she could see on Doctor Crusher’s face that she was ready to let the subject pass. After a few innocuous subjects not related to the whole Q thing, she said, “I don’t know what other things I’ve forgotten, but I can barely remember anything about the past few days at all. Just writing the notes last night, phrasing them in different obscure ways, and such.”

“Mmm, that’s interesting. I suppose it would depend on what you’ve forgotten.”

“I was thinking it was something negative about Q. Like if one of the crew had a particularly bad experience and convinced me that he has no redeeming qualities?”

“I like that, that makes sense,” Beverly said, pointing to Lilly with her teaspoon. “At the meeting today, the captain and commander said they both have large gaps in their memory from the last few days.”

“Maybe they were both trying to persuade me of something?”

“It’s possible. I’ve been thinking about the memory thing, though,” Beverly told her. “Everything Q does feels like a trick to me, so that’s what I focused on-- how could the memory loss work to his advantage?”

Lilly finished the tea in her cup, set it down, folded her hands together, and leaned forward on them. “Hit me with it,” she said.

“What if it’s just bait to  _ look _ like a compromise? What if you’ve forgotten something that barely even matters?”

“How would that help him?” Lilly frowned. She certainly didn’t  _ feel _ like she’d lost anything important.

“Picture this-- he loses, you choose to recover the precious lost memories, and all you gain back are some arguments with the captain over the compromise itself, or a detailed list of why you should never trust Q from Commander Riker! What if after that you decide that your time with him wasn’t so awful and want to change your mind, or have both?” Beverly said, excited.

“I thought he’s supposed to wipe his own memory at the same time?” Lilly objected.

“I bet there’s wiggle room,” Beverly said, standing. She started collecting their plates to tidy up. When she was done she put her hands on her hips. “Mark my words: those memories don’t mean a thing.”

  
  



	3. Outmaneuvered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day One of the agreement, and Q already has Lilly off-balance and unprepared. Then, she meets an actual villain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to start Ship in a Bottle! I'm actually really excited about what I've come up with for this episode.

###  Chapter Three: Outmaneuvered

Lilly felt butterflies in her stomach as she walked the corridor toward the turbolift. She was headed to Ten Forward. The idea of coming across Q when she was alone was intimidating, even though --perhaps even because-- he clearly had a very high opinion of her. Her memories of seeing and interacting with Q were spotty, almost like swiss cheese. Lilly expected part of that came from having encountered Q for the first time on the bridge, with an angry captain and first officer both there. 

Commander Riker was the one crewmember she’d never gotten to know very well. He always seemed full of disapproval about her interactions with 24th century people and technology, especially her friendship with Worf. With Riker on the bridge when Q arrived, Lilly wasn’t surprised that she didn’t remember much of the encounter. It was possible that she’d been berated by him for bringing on the trials of dealing with Q in the first place, since she wasn’t properly confined to quarters. Sometimes she thought it was a wonder he and Jellico hadn’t gotten along.

Lilly paused in the process of stepping onto the turbolift. Jellico had wanted to take her back to Earth. She could distinctly remember the fear she’d felt at the idea, but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember why the man hadn’t taken her with him! It wasn’t like Jellico had anything to do with Q!

“Deck Ten,” she commanded. The lift started to move.

Behind her, Lilly heard an odd sound, like a crystal fruit being crushed. She turned and saw that she wasn’t alone. Q had appeared.

Lilly turned back to face the closed turbolift door.

“I’m not well versed in human etiquette, but I don’t think that was polite,” he chided.

“I’m afraid I can’t recall any particular behavior requirement in our agreement,” Lilly said. Something about the turbolift changed, so she added, “Resume,” just in case.

The turbolift started moving again, and Lilly turned to raise an eyebrow at Q.

“Why would I bother with your computer commands?”

She smiled. “It’s polite.”

The door opened, and she stepped out. She heard Q’s muttered, “Touché,” before the doors closed again, with him still inside.

Lilly walked as quickly toward Ten Forward as she could without running. Through the semi-transparent doors, she could see the movement of people walking around or gesturing as they spoke while seated. When she walked through the doors, however, she found the entire space empty.

“Q!”

He appeared in front of her in a geometric flash of light. Instead of speaking, Q merely raised an eyebrow as if confused about her reaction.

“Put them back!”

“I assure you, everyone in Ten Forward is exactly where they want to be,” he told her, spreading his arms wide.

Lilly walked away from him, unequal to the task of remaining calm under his steady gaze. “All right, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume we’re still on the Enterprise. Please at least tell me the room you decided to alter wasn’t already in use?” She turned to see his reaction.

He was smiling.

“This is Holodeck E. According to the computer, it’s rarely used.”

“Rarely. Did you check the schedule?” she asked, frowning as she made her way behind the bar where Guinan usually stood.

His smile faded and his tone dropped from proud to irritated. “I thought you would be pleased!”

“That’s definitely a ‘no,’” Lilly said, turning to look at the fake Ten Forward ceiling. “Computer, is Holodeck E intended for use anytime today?”

_ “Engineering has no scheduled time slots for Holodeck E until Stardate--” _

Q waved his hand faster than Lilly could call out to the computer to halt its answer, and the sound ceased.

“Thank you,” she said, wincing. “I should have expected that.” She rubbed her arms, trying to settle herself from the shock of the mistake. Q appeared, seated on one of the stools across from her. Lilly supposed she should have expected that, too. 

“Why bother with concern? I can wipe your mind of any knowledge you shouldn’t have, when the time comes.”

“Including you?” Lilly asked, leaning on the bar and grinning impudently. 

The amusement she felt at getting one over on him made it a genuine smile, and Q’s reaction surprised her. He always seemed simultaneously in complete control of every situation and entirely unpredictable. Now, though, she could tell that he was affected by her. The hard edge of command that she’d always seen in his expression softened, his posture straightened, and his head tipped to the side as he looked at her. His lips curved into a very slow smile of his own, and for some reason, a blush started to creep up onto her cheeks. She wanted to look away, but something compelled her to hold his gaze a bit longer.

Lilly reached up to put a lock of hair behind her ear and missed. She’d been hoping to break whatever odd spell he’d cast on her, but Q did that himself. He moved his own hand as if to fix her hair for her and startled her out of the moment.

To hide her own reaction, Lilly reached into her trouser pocket for a hair tie and leaned over to gather up all of her hair into a messy ponytail.

“You know, you don’t have to steal a room to talk with me,” she said, her face still covered as she finger combed her blonde hair. Lilly stood, finishing the twist and pull through that left her cascading hair curling against the back of her neck. “If you ask, I’m sure Captain Picard would issue you your own quarters.” 

_ “Quarters?” _ he asked, eyebrows raised.

“Or, you know, a conference room,” she added, realizing too late that she’d suggested the more intimate option first. As expected, Q caught her mistake.

He leaned both elbows on the bar, placed his chin on his fists, and asked, “Would you visit me there? Have you visited anyone else’s quarters since arriving on the ship? Is that…  _ proper?”  _ The way he said the last word was full of gleeful impudence.

“You are entirely ridiculous,” Lilly said, crossing her arms. Q’s answering pout emphasized his already generous lips. “Couches are more comfortable than office chairs.”

“I like that you want to be comfortable with me,” Q said.

“I refuse to rise to this bait,” Lilly lied. Her heart rate had doubled and she couldn’t help but glare at him. “I think my contractual obligation for this morning has been fulfilled, goodbye.”

“I’m certainly satisfied,” Q said, sounding amused. She could see him turn his body on the stool to follow her progress toward the door.

Before she got close enough to trigger the opening mechanism, she stopped. “I hope the door opens because I think you know it would be a bad idea to stop me from leaving. I hate that twenty-fourth century doors are unslammable!”

In a flash, the normal sliding door was replaced by a pair of metal doors that wouldn’t have been out of place in any twentieth century office building. Lilly tried to stop herself from smiling as she looked at them, until she noticed something.

“That little hinge at the top is specifically designed to prevent slamming, you know.”

With a snap of Q’s fingers, it was gone.

The doors were very satisfying to slam.

888888888888

Will was going over the details of a few promotions with Picard when Q appeared in the Ready Room. The captain’s jaw clenched, but he sat back in his chair and tipped his head up toward the entity. Initially, Will didn’t bother to look over, but as soon as he heard what Q had to say, he couldn’t help himself.

“Picard, your niece and I have a… request.”

“So soon?” Will quipped, his eyebrows raised as high as they could manage. His stomach clenched to think that Lilly had been taken in so easily by someone who didn’t deserve her. Will had thought he’d finally mastered his attraction, finally stopped having to grit his teeth and remind himself to stay away from her, only for Q to show up and trigger Will’s instinctive jealousy. Q’s announcement was, therefore, both a blessing and a curse.

He squared his shoulders and lifted his chin quickly, glaring at Q. Q’s response was odd; he lifted one eyebrow and looked from Will’s face down to his lap, where both fists were clenched.  _ He knows, _ Will thought. Somehow, Q knew about Will’s partiality for Lilly, Will was sure of it.

“A request, you say?” Picard asked, right on the edge of sardonic.

“She objected to my use of a disused room as a meeting place. Her suggestion was to ask you for temporary quarters,” Q said. “As a courtesy, I’m doing so.”

“Are you? I didn’t hear any asking,” Will commented, but Picard lifted a hand to interrupt.

“Granted. Computer, for a period of thirty days, Q will be occupying the quarters on Deck 9, room 3603.”

_ “The quarters at room 3603 on Deck 9 have been assigned to the Q entity for thirty days.” _

“Anything else?” Picard asked.

“Perfect.” Q clicked his heels together and bowed at the same time, disappearing in a snap of his fingers.

“Aren’t those the rooms directly beside yours?” Will asked, rubbing his beard with one hand to hide the chuckle that threatened.

“They are. Now, about Lieutenant Telomache--”

Jean-Luc’s expression was resolute, and Will took his cues from his captain, stifling his amusement and refocusing on the task at hand.

888888888888

Dinners with Geordi and Data didn’t happen very often, due to their schedules, but Lilly always appreciated them. They were finished eating, and the three of them were looking over Data’s latest painting.

“It has a really gothic feel to it, different from your other pieces. I like it a lot,” Lilly said. The painting was from the perspective of a person looking down into a hollow in a dark forest, and the figure that was at the center of the piece was difficult to make out due to the lighting. It came across as a hulking, menacing presence.

“Thank you. I began and completed my monthly re-read of Arthur Conan Doyle’s complete Sherlock Holmes series three days ago, in the turbolift on the way to the bridge.”

Lilly saw Geordi burst into a bout of silent laughter at Data’s words, schooling his face into polite interest when the android turned to look in his direction. She suspected that Data had actually seen the transformation, but he didn’t comment on it.

“So this is inspired by the books?” Geordi asked, once he’d regained his composure.

“Hound of the Baskervilles, right?” Lilly broke in before Data could answer. “That one always was my favorite.”

“Yes, you are correct. You might be interested to know that Geordi and I sometimes attend a Holodeck experience together as Holmes and Watson.”

“Ooh, with the outfits and everything? Alexander told me he and his father sometimes do that. Their last one was a western, I think.”

“Data even has a pipe,” Geordi said, walking back over to set his empty cup at the table. His grin was infectious.

“Now  _ that _ I’d love to see,” Lilly admitted.

Data’s expression lit up in that way it did when he was struck with an idea. “Our next scheduled use of the program is tomorrow. Perhaps you would be interested to observe?”

“Oh I would never think to intrude--” Lilly said, shooting a look over at Geordi. She appreciated Data’s clear enthusiasm despite his lack of human-felt emotions, but she was conscious of disrupting the two men’s dynamic.

“It’s no intrusion, really. Though, the next mystery includes an older gentleman hiring us to investigate his brother’s death. It’s got a very ‘boy’s club’ atmosphere. Might be better to wait till the next one,” Geordi said apologetically.

“That is a good observation. I had not considered the aspect of gender dynamics from that century on the logistics of the mystery program.”

“Men rarely need to,” Lilly said quietly, sipping her drink.

The two Starfleet officers were speaking to each other and had missed her comment, which was just as well. She walked over to the table and tidied up a little, keeping an eye on the two of them. After a minute or two, Geordi nodded and came over to her.

“If you’d like to come by after we’re finished, Data has a good idea of how long it might take. You could take a look at the set, anyway-- the program is very detailed.”

Lilly smiled. “I’d love to! I was slightly worried that you were conspiring to suggest I take on the role of Irene Adler, or something. I’m nowhere near clever enough for that.”

“Hmm!” Data said, the sound a high pitched exclamation of shock.

“What?”

“Forgive me, Lilly, but I cannot fully explain. Suffice it to say that the historical record would seem to disagree with your self-assessment,” Data said, his tone a combination of interest and apology.

“Thank you, that’s very kind,” she said, both touched and intrigued. As usual, she tried to ignore the latter emotion. “Let me know what time tomorrow, and I’ll try to figure out a way to ensure that you don’t end up with two visitors, instead of one.”

“Oh, that’s right. Was today day one?” Geordi asked. “I gotta say, I don’t feel like I’ve forgotten anything.” 

“Me either, truth be told. Beverly and I think it’s a red herring, the memory thing. I’ve probably just forgotten some long discussion about how terrible Q is, or something.”

“Hmm!” Data said, again.

“Data?” Geordi raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t, he can’t tell us anyway. For all I know, he’s contracted to make an array of variously pitched ‘Hmm!’ noises anytime the subject is brought up,” Lilly said. She hoped Data would take that to mean she didn’t intend to hound him about it. After all, he and Q were likely the only people who knew what she’d forgotten. “See you tomorrow, then?”

“I’ll look forward to it,” Geordi told her, giving her half a hug.

888888888888

Lilly spent the evening going through the books that Data had sent to her for reading to Alexander’s class. It still felt like a complete waste of resources to have the replicator create each book for her to look at before deciding which ones she’d actually read. At the same time, the kids hadn’t appreciated the one book which she hadn’t gone through beforehand and turned out to have pedestrian popups in twentieth century technology.

She’d thought it looked really cool.

The door chime sounded, and she set aside the three books she was deciding between to answer it.

It was Q.

They stood there looking at each other for a long minute. Lilly was surprised to see him, but Q seemed to be struggling with something. Finally he sighed, rolled his eyes to the heavens, and spoke. Each word sounded like it had been dragged out by weeks of steady torture.

“May I come in?”

“I guess?” she answered reluctantly. “But only a few steps in.” Lilly stepped back for him. 

Once inside, Q looked around with interest. “I expected you to decorate with things from your own time.”

“I’m undercover, so I could only have a few things. What do you want?” 

Lilly resisted crossing her arms. It was nearly her bedtime, and she had relaxed, letting down her guard. She hadn’t expected to see him again that day. She was unhappy that he was already getting under her skin. Lilly had hoped that it would be a week or more before she was this unsettled by his presence, before he’d chipped away at the indifference she thought she’d constructed in preparation for this month.

It was almost as if she’d lost a great deal of that preparation with whatever memories he’d stolen away. She watched him lean over to look at the things at her computer desk, then walk over and examine the painting she had hanging beside the door. Q glanced at her, and she made as obvious a ‘well??’ face as she could manage without speaking.

“What time do you go to bed?” he asked, one hand gesturing toward her. His manner was matter-of-fact, as if this were an ordinary question.

_ “Why?” _

Q moved to within a foot of her, such that she would have to tip her head up to look him in the eye. “I intend to… visit you, each evening. I’d like to be the last person you see, each day.”

“That’s--” Lilly cut herself off. She refused to look at him. ‘Horrifically intimate’ was the way she wanted to end the sentence, but given Q’s powers, Lilly didn’t want to set his request up as intimate if she would be required to acquiesce to it. “--kind of private, don’t you think?” she finished, a full half a minute later.

“Something a lover would want to do,” he said quietly.

All pretense of indifference dropped away, along with her jaw. She stared at him. “Y-yes, exactly,” she stammered. “I’m not-- I mean, that’s--”

“You object, then?”

“To your being-- To--”

“To the  _ visits,” _ Q interrupted. She could see the muscles working in his jaw. His eyes searched hers like he wanted her to want to say yes.

“Do I have a choice?” she asked, without thinking.

“Yes!” he blurted out. “Maybe,” he corrected. It was as if he too had spoken without thinking. 

For a surreal second, Lilly empathized with his situation. He obviously had a lot of determination to get his way (she refused to characterize what he felt as anything more than that), but knew he had to be careful not to drive her completely away. She shook her head to clear it, focusing on the red of his fake uniform shirt.

“Fine,” she said, rubbing her eyes with both hands, suddenly exhausted. “Nine thirty. And you have to come to the door, not just walk into my quarters, and definitely never ever come into my bedroom.”

Q was quiet. Somehow she  _ knew _ he wanted her to look up at him, and Lilly felt too vulnerable to want him to see how much he had put her off balance. As her instinct was sometimes to lean into her weakness, Lilly did just that. She lifted her head and looked him right in the eyes with defiance.

“Just get it out of your head that you get to ask for a goodnight kiss. Got it?”

She realized her mistake as soon as his gaze dropped to her lips.

“No asking, got it,” he said with a supremely arrogant smirk.

Adrenaline shot through her veins, and she stiffened. “Good,” she said through clenched teeth. “Good night then.”

Then, before he could make good on the implied lack of  _ asking, _ she power-walked into her bedroom and hit the power button for the door without turning around.

“Shit, _ shit!” _ she whispered. 

That had not gone well at all.

888888888888

Lilly had trouble sleeping that night, and as such she slept in quite a bit the next morning. When she finally did get up, there was a sheet of paper on her table that hadn’t been there the night before.

> _ As promised, I didn’t knock on your bedroom door. _
> 
> _ My quarters are on Deck 9, room 3603. _
> 
> _ Stop by before lunch? _
> 
> _ Q _

The more she looked at the letter, the more angry she got. It looked printed-- she assumed Q didn’t actually know how to physically write English, or any ‘inferior’ language, for that matter. The fact that it was inside the room told her he’d come in without permission from her, even though he’d said he wouldn’t do that.

It was day two of this ridiculousness, and he’d already broken his rule.

Lilly snatched the letter, threw on a pair of black pants, and left in search of room 3603. When she got there, she hit the annunciator and waited, wishing she had the guts to simply pound on the door like the ancient savage she was.

Q opened the door. He was wearing his usual Starfleet captain’s uniform, which she was starting to find very irritating, given that it was her favorite color. She pushed past him into the room, turning on her heel to hold up the note.

“You  _ agreed _ you weren’t going to come into my quarters without permission!”

Even though Lilly had expected Q to bluster some excuse or at the very least look a tiny bit chastened, he didn’t. He looked genuinely surprised.

“I didn’t!”

“You want to spend eternity with me, but you can lie straight to my face like this?”

His surprise turned to seriousness. “Lilly,” he said, his tone earnest. “My powers--”

“Don’t you dare try to weasel out of this. No matter what clever turn of phrase you can come up with, it’s still  _ lying,” _ she said. Somewhere deep down, a voice tried to talk her down from her fury. It pointed out that if he was lying, that was all the more reason to reject him at the end of the month. That she should be happy that he was showing his true colors so early.

“If you won’t listen, then I’ll show you.” Q snapped his fingers, and her note disappeared.

“Where did you put it? This isn’t court, you know. I saw what I saw, taking the evidence won’t do you any good!” she told him, shaking her head at his audacity.

“Go look for yourself.”

Q snapped his fingers, and Lilly found herself back in her quarters.

There on the table was the note.

Lilly’s hot flush of complete embarrassment was overwhelming. She covered her cheeks with her hands and closed her eyes. How had she missed that possibility! She’d accused him of lying because she was too stupid to remember how extensive his powers were, and now she had to apologize, Lilly told herself.

“You’re going to make me walk back and knock on the door, too, aren’t you?” Lilly said aloud, her eyes still closed.

She took a minute to splash some cold water on her face. The shirt she was wearing was actually her nightshirt; she’d rushed out to yell at Q without paying attention to it. It was at least not transparent, but she hadn’t been wearing a bra with it! Lilly groaned as she put one on, along with a different shirt. The twenty-fourth century options were, as one might expect, centuries better, but Lilly didn’t want to have to remember what they were like when she went back to her own time.

Her walk back to Q’s quarters was much more subdued, this time.

The door opened right as she tapped the controls. Lilly walked in with as much of her shredded dignity she had left and looked for Q. He was nowhere that she could see, and though the bedroom door was shut, she had no intention of checking there.   
“Q?” she called out. A second later she heard the tell-tale sound of his appearance behind her.

“You came back?”

She turned to find him looking incredibly pleased. To her frustration, this lit the blush she’d finally tamped down.

“I was wrong. I accused you of lying but you didn’t. I couldn’t let that stand,” she said, staring at the center of his chest. He took a step toward her and she forced herself to stay still. After a deep breath, she said the thing she’d come back to say. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. It’s human nature to obscure inconvenient truths,” he said, somehow managing to make his arrogant observation sound almost cordial. “I expected you to stew on your frustration with me until the evening.”

Mutely, Lilly shook her head. Q tipped his to the side, the action causing her to look up at his face. “I’m frustrated with myself, actually,” she said quietly. “I accused you of moving an entire Ten Forward full of people somewhere, of course you could put a piece of paper in my room.” 

Q chuckled.

“You don’t ever have to worry about my opinion of you,” he said, his gaze direct.

“Speaking of inconvenient truths, I think that’s about enough of those for today!” Lilly said, shaking her head a few times. She walked over to the door.

“You shouldn’t be so critical; you’re one of the most clever humans I’ve ever encountered. By coming back you have not only stolen my goodnight, but you’ve tricked me into being happy to see you despite that.”

Lilly turned to look at him. His expression was warm and affectionate, which she thought suited him much better than his usual ebullient arrogance. That internal reaction almost prompted her to agree to let him visit a third time that day, but she caught herself before she said anything. She nodded her thanks to him and left, half expecting him to appear inside her personal space with every step she took away from his quarters.

Once back in her rooms, Lilly knelt on the couch and looked out at the starfield for a while. Q wasn’t what she had expected, but now that she was really thinking about the situation, that made sense. From what Worf had told her, Q had always treated the Enterprise crew as prey to play with before consuming. One treated a potential mate very differently from that.

Lilly had a lot to think about.

She ate lunch late and had almost forgotten the chance to look in on Data and Geordi’s Sherlock Holmes simulation until she got the computer’s reminder. Knowing that both men would be wearing period costumes, Lilly looked at herself in the mirror. Her shirt was relatively modest, with a vee neck which showed no cleavage, long sleeves, and very little hip shaping. Her black pants went to her ankles. If she did come across the client Geordi had mentioned, there was more of a chance he’d think she was dressed as a jockey, instead of a loose woman, or something.

Data had told her to wait outside the holodeck for them to come out. She stood quietly, thinking about what the room on the other side of the door might look like. When the door did open, it wasn’t Geordi or Data, but a tall, anxious looking man wearing a gold engineering uniform. He had a toolbox, and he nearly ran into her.

“Oh! Hi. Were you waiting to use this holodeck? I’m, well, I’m afraid it’s not-- that is to say, it’s not about you personally, but there’s an issue with the program,” the man said, his face twisting up apologetically as he spoke.

“You mean Data isn’t using it right now?” Lilly asked, flustered. She had forgotten what Geordi’s official title was, and since he was likely this man’s boss, she didn’t want to just use his first name.

“No, they’re finished with the program. Left early.”

“Well, darn. It must have been something pretty big for them to leave early  _ and _ forget I was coming by to get a look at it. I guess I’ll--”

“You were coming to see it? I--I could start it up for you, it’s the holographic characters that have the problem, not the setting.”

The man looked so earnest, so determined to be helpful that Lilly didn’t want to say no. She nodded at him, and he led the way to the door, telling the computer to show the last room from the Sherlock Holmes program that Commander Data had last used. As he spoke, his leg bounced as if he was agitated, and Lilly made a decision.

“Thank you so much! I have to be honest, you look like you’re still on duty. I’m fine just looking around, if you have something you need to--”

“Oh, oh, I  _ do, _ actually, thank you so much! It’s actually about your uncle, I need to give him a message. You should be perfectly fine here, it’s just the room, Holmes’s sitting room, without any of the people. Come to think of it, it needs to be running anyway, so you should be just, just fine here.” The whole time he was speaking, the man’s eyes were wide, and Lilly got the impression that he was less specifically anxious than simply high strung.

“That is lovely, then. If you need the program running, does that mean I shouldn’t cancel it when I leave?”

The man’s eyes closed tightly for a long second, and when he opened them, he looked about as nervous as anyone she’d ever met. He nodded vigorously, waved a hand at her, and essentially fled.

Lilly stared at the closing doors-- he hadn’t actually started it!

“Computer, please run the aforementioned program?” Lilly hazarded. It worked. A cozy, cluttered room materialized, full of red velvet and dark wood. Clusters of books were tucked in groups on shelves, end tables, and even the mantelpiece. The merry, golden glow from multiple lamps gave the room depth in the spaces their light didn’t quite reach. She stepped forward and examined the spines of the books, but the first group were possibly in Cyrillic. The next cluster appeared to be in Italian, and she pulled the second volume free of the rest to look at the title page.

“I wouldn’t recommend that one.” 

The voice was cultured and British, with the kind of annunciation one might find on stage performing serious theater. Lilly looked up to see a man standing at the other side of the mantel. He was richly dressed in period clothing, but his hair wasn’t as buttoned-down. It was going grey, and his piercing blue eyes were lively. He had the look of a respected lawyer or professor, someone with wisdom and age, unburdened by the latter.

Since the engineering crewmember had specifically said that there was a problem with the ‘holographic characters,’ Lilly closed the book and hugged it to her chest. She’d caught the word ‘Morte’ on the page, which likely meant ‘death’ in Italian.

“I suppose you’re right. Though, given that this is Sherlock Holmes’s sitting room, a book about death isn’t  _ so _ out of place, as it might be in other locations,” she said.

The man’s eyebrow lifted, and his eyes narrowed in obvious interest. “You read Italian?”

“I  _ recognize _ Italian,” she corrected.

“That gives me hope for the future of the language,” he said, tipping his head forward in a kind of salute. She didn’t return his smile, unhappy with the idea that, inherently, a literate woman had some odd sort of significance. “So, does the location meet with your expectations?” he asked, clasping his hands in front of him.

“It looks exactly like what I would picture Sherlock Holmes’s sitting room would look like, if that’s what you’re asking,” Lilly answered. There was something falsely polite about the man, and she cast her mind over Doyle’s novels, trying to match the man to one of the recurring characters in the series. He was clearly not the police inspector, definitely not Mycroft… 

The realization of who he had to be hit Lilly all at once. She tightened her grip on the book and looked around the room to see if there was anything that could be used as a weapon.

“Are you in any way distressed, my dear?” the man asked, taking a few steps in her direction.

“Thank you, no, professor,” Lilly said, moving to stand behind one of the wingback chairs that faced the fireplace.

On hearing the title, the man nodded knowingly. “I promise you, neither you nor your uncle have anything to fear from me in this space.”

Lilly’s fingers dug into the velvet of the chair as she tried to hide her shock. “The conversation about my uncle occurred before the room materialized, Professor Moriarty.”

“True,” Moriarty said coolly. “So did I.”

Before she could parse what he could have meant by that, the doors to the holodeck opened, visible on the other side of the arch that had yet to despawn. She could hear them open, but there was no way she felt comfortable enough to turn her head to see who it was. Her heart sank when she heard the person speak.

“The comms appear to be off,” Commander Riker said, his voice harsh and unhappy. “Your presence is requested in the Ready Room.”


	4. Regrouping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trapped in Holodeck Three by Moriarty, Will and Lilly take stock of their situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A refresher on ‘Ship in a Bottle:’ Back in Season Two (Elementary, Dear Data), Doctor Polaski found it beyond her capacity to understand the idea of Data’s actual consciousness. She challenged him to not only recognize aspects of Sherlock Holmes mysteries, but truly solve one, using his own ingenuity if he truly was capable of such a thing. To facilitate this, Geordi asked the computer to ‘create an opponent with the ability to defeat Data.’
> 
> This imbued the classic antagonist Professor James Moriarty with what appears to be actual consciousness. He observed Data and Geordi call on the arch, and figured out how to access the computer. Moriarty was really only limited by his understanding of what vast abilities were at his fingertips; he created a mechanism to effect the pitch and roll of the ship (believing it to be a seafaring vessel), and in the end, Picard talked him into allowing them to regain control with the promise that they would look for a way to enable him to continue some semblance of an actual ‘life.’
> 
> At the start of the episode Ship in a Bottle, Geordi and Data are once again Watson and Holmes, and an odd quirk of the holodeck causes them to call in Barclay to do a diagnostic. Barclay discovers Professor Moriarty, who tells him that he has been miserable and semi-conscious in the holodeck waiting years for Picard to fulfill his promise. He demands to speak to the captain, and that’s where we picked up at the end of the last chapter.
> 
> My version involves Riker and Lilly, though neither was seen through much of the episode as it originally aired (*wink*). I think my version gives Moriarty much more menace and agency, but of course it would have been hard to do that in 60 minutes on the show itself.

###  Chapter Four: Regrouping

Will had been on the bridge when Lieutenant Barclay came to tell the captain about the ‘issue with the holodeck.’ When the engineer had characterized it that way, Will actually took the initiative to step in and ask him what the serious problem was. Reg was frustrating and dealing with him took patience, but he wasn’t frivolous, and he wouldn’t have come with a minor mishap-- and Will was right. It wasn’t.

No, Barclay hadn’t made a mistake in coming directly to the Bridge without requesting a meeting first. His mistake was worse than that.

“Computer, what is the status of Holodeck Three at the present moment?” Picard had asked, as soon as Reg had finished explaining his run-in with Moriarty.

_ “Holodeck Three is running a simulation of Sherlock Holmes’s sitting room.” _

“You started it already?” the captain asked Barclay.

“Yes, sir. I didn’t mean to overstep-- It was your niece, sir. She was outside when I left. S-said she was there to see the program, but they’d left early, so, well, I felt bad about that, and the program doesn’t have to involve any of the characters, if it's just the room, sir, so--”

_ “Please _ stop, Lieutenant,” Picard said. “Will?”

Will understood immediately. “Right away.” He started for the turbolift, passing Reg.

“Do you want me to come with?” the engineer asked, his eyes wide.

“No need,” Will said without breaking stride.

He forced himself to take some long, deep breaths. Will hadn’t personally spoken to Moriarty when, years before, he’d taken temporary control of the Enterprise. The way Picard had spoken about the incident afterwards, however, had told Will that the man was not to be underestimated.

And now, he had Lilly.

Lilly, who refused to live a hermit-like existence on the Enterprise, who couldn’t be placed in stasis, and whose personality was vibrant and attractive. He’d long since given up on the idea that she could be sent anywhere, given how she seemed to always be in the middle of something interesting, if not dangerous. A thought occurred to him, and he tapped his communicator.

“Riker to Lt. Barclay?”

_ “Uh, Barclay here, Commander?” _

“If the holodeck has already spawned Moriarty into that program, is there any chance he doesn’t know who Lilly Picard really is?”

_ “I really c-couldn’t say, sir. From what I’ve heard, she’s pretty smar-- that is to say, sir, she’s an intelligent wom-- person, I mean person, she’s very smart. So, possibly not, I guess, sir?” _

“Understood. Riker out.” Will smiled and shook his head. “I don’t know why I asked,” he said to the empty turbolift.

He thought about his options as he walked down the corridor toward Holodeck Three. The best thing he came up with was to get between Lilly and Moriarty, enough to get her out of the room. He knew that Moriarty had taken control of parts of the ship he understood from his knowledge of actual seafaring ships. While it would be possible to use the transporter to get Lilly out of there, that would risk alerting Moriarty to its existence.

Once at Holodeck Three, he took a deep breath. Will knew he had a habit of criticizing Lilly Picard for her choices, always with an eye toward both protecting her from anything she shouldn’t know. His comments were also about protecting  _ himself _ from getting too close. He knew that either of those reasons would also be dangerous information to let Professor James Moriarty know about.

Will commanded the doors to open. In the eighteenth century sitting room they revealed was a well-dressed man wearing period clothing. Lilly was faced away from him, and he could see that she was clutching the back of a chair. His instinct was to act officious and uncompromising. Lilly was close enough to the doors that Will could fend Moriarty off while she escaped.

“The comms are off,” he lied. He hadn’t tried them, because he didn’t want to give Moriarty any warning. “Your presence is requested in the Ready Room.”

He hoped that she’d take from this that Picard knew where she was and was concerned for her safety. Lilly’s head bowed, and Will expected her to step toward him at any minute.

“Commander… Riker, is it? I recognize your voice, sir,” Moriarty said.

“That’s right,” Will said, poorly hiding his surprise. He couldn’t recall a point where the man could have heard him, except perhaps when Picard had reported to him that the ship was safe, at the end of their last encounter with Moriarty. “The captain will be here shortly, he’s finishing some other important business.”

“That is understandable. We can wait.”

Now Will’s eyebrows did shoot up in surprise. “Wait, sir? My orders are to collect this woman--”

“The captain’s niece,” Moriarty broke in.

Lilly took a step back, toward Will. Will took a large step in her direction as well.

“Mr. Computer, remove the arch,” Moriarty said. Around Will, the arch disappeared, and with it, the doors. “My apologies, Commander. Your captain will understand when you report to him that you were unable to complete his orders.”

Lilly sniffed disdainfully. “You’re aware, Professor, that obeying a superior’s orders aren’t just an obligation, but a matter of pride and satisfaction?” she said, stepping forward to press herself against the back of the chair again. “As such, your reassurance isn’t much of one.”

Inwardly, Will winced. From Picard’s recollections, he knew that Moriarty was invigorated by intelligent, lively conversation, and Will did  _ not _ want his attention on Lilly. He moved to stand close behind her, so that he would at least be visible throughout any verbal exchange. He had noticed that Lilly's use of language was different from normal, and he wondered if she were adjusting it to sound more archaic.

“Indeed. However, many military men find that their ability to adapt to their current situation is also satisfying. For example, when unable to complete an extraction order, such soldiers may instead shift their focus to protection, as Commander Riker appears to have done.”

“What a subtle way to inform me that you are a threat,” Lilly said.

Will reached up to scratch his beard, hiding his amused reaction. Unfortunately, Moriarty simply gave them a wide smile of his own.

“Well, Commander. At the very least, the women on your ship seem to provide the most engaging hostages!”

“Now that’s an interesting tactic,” Lilly said. “A man of your intelligence doesn’t need to resort to diminishment to gain the upper hand. That tells me your object is to distract us with our dislike and distaste. Hoping we’ll underestimate you, perhaps?”

Moriarty shook his head and laughed, steadying himself on the mantel. 

While he did so, Will leaned down and whispered in Lilly’s ear. “Thirty minutes.” He hoped that she’d make the connection that this was Picard’s ETA. Before he straightened, he couldn’t help but notice that her hair smelled really good. This influenced how long it took him to straighten back up, and by the time he did, Moriarty was looking at him knowingly.

“Perhaps hostages is too strong a word. Collateral, perhaps,” Moriarty said. “Either way, we’ll be in each other’s company for a while. As such, I must ask a boon of you, young lady. Your attire is… rather unconventional for this time and place. I ask that you change into something less--”

“I wouldn’t finish that sentence if I were you, Professor,” Will said. He’d seen that Lilly’s grip on the upholstery had tightened again.

“Mr. Computer, kindly create a dressing room containing period-appropriate clothing for a noblewoman that would fit Captain Picard’s niece. We will also require a lady’s maid,” Moriarty said.   
A ‘success’ chime sounded.  _ “Changes complete.” _

Behind the professor, a door opened and a young woman dressed as a maid stepped through. “If you’ll come this way, miss?”

“How can I know she’ll be safe in that room? I presume you have once again disabled the mortality safeguards?” Will laid a gentle but insistent hand on Lilly’s shoulder. Almost immediately, she rested her opposite hand on his, and just as quickly, that hand dropped away. Will wished he could see the expression on her face.

“I’m tempted to tell you that you’ll have to find out the answer to that by yourself,” Moriarty said. “Mr. Computer, enable your laser screen protocol on the door of the dressing room, allowing only women to enter it.”

_ “Force field is now in effect.” _

“Is that enough for your propriety, Commander?”

“If I can stand outside the door, it is,” Will said, frowning.

“Your determination to protect your superior officer’s loved one is remarkable,” Moriarty said. Will detected a sardonic twist to the words, which was disconcerting. He knew that the being in front of him was more than a mere hologram, and yet, Will also knew that he wouldn’t be able to survive the experience of leaving the holodeck. To hear sophisticated  _ teasing _ from such a creation was strange, to say the least.

Before Will could think of something to say in response to Moriarty, Lilly beat him to it. “Be that as it may, that is the only way either of us will agree to your clothing requirements.”

Will was so taken aback that he almost said her name. The L was on his lips, and he stopped himself with a fist, realizing that Moriarty might know her relationship with Picard, but nothing else. Will had no intention of revealing anything else, though it was likely her name would come out eventually. Anything else, though, was unconscionable.

Professor James Moriarty could not discover how valuable she was.

That thought led Will to go with Lilly as she nodded coldly to Moriarty and followed the maid into the hallway. He understood that there was more at stake than simply refusing to acquiesce.

Moriarty remained on the other side of the first door once it was closed, which Will hadn’t expected.

“Through here, miss,” the maid said.

“I’ll be there in one moment,” Lilly told the woman. She turned to Will, and he could see that she was upset. “Honestly, Commander, it might be more helpful for you to talk to our host while I’m in here. He’s clearly more than a simple hologram if he can call for the arch! If he recognized you--”

Will shook his head. “I’m not leaving you. As it is, I don’t like the way we’ve been tricked into being on either side of a closed door!”

“Computer, create a ten foot long braided rope an eighth of an inch wide, with a one inch loop on either end?”

The object started to fall from the ceiling, and Lilly grabbed it on the way down.

“What--”

Lilly interrupted his question by handing him one end. “Now we know we at least have  _ some _ agency in here. The loops are too small for someone to put a chair leg through them, and the rope is flat enough to fit under the door. I’ll hold onto this as I get dressed, and if at any point you tug and it goes completely slack or taut,  _ then _ you can worry.”

The brilliance of her plan left him momentarily speechless.

“Now, don’t get worried if I tug on it a few times, and don’t go pulling it every two minutes or something. I know something about the clothes I’m going to have to put on, and I’m going to have to get a little creative to keep hold of it!”

Will nodded and enclosed his end of the rope in his fist. To his surprise, Lilly made a noise of frustration, gathered up the majority of the rope, and yanked on it. He hadn’t been prepared, and it slipped out of his grasp.

“All right, point taken,” Will said, but Lilly didn’t hand him back the rope. Instead, she grabbed his left hand and slid the loop onto one of his fingers, then closed the rest of his fingers.

“I’ll be back soon. Your job is to figure out what the heck to do if it does go slack,” she said, spooling most of the rope out and tucking her end on a finger as well. She waved that hand with the fingers spread before making a fist and going through the door. As she’d predicted, the rope did fit under the door without preventing it from shutting.

Will was left staring at the door in admiration. It was one thing to know that a person was known to be clever, but it was something else to watch it happen in front of him. Will shook his head. He had an odd sense of deja vu.

888888888888

“Well now, let’s get you out of those… things,” the maid said, as soon as Lilly shut the door behind her. She eyed the rope but said nothing, opting instead to hurry over and start removing Lilly’s clothing. After the shirt and pants, though, Lilly brushed off the woman’s hands to walk over to the closet. She didn’t want to be stripped naked and only then discover that she hated the clothes she was meant to wear.

The closet was deep, and there had to be at least ten different dresses, all with ruffles, lace, and various rich fabrics layered with one another. One of them, however, was exactly right.

“This one, please,” Lilly said, pulling out a sleeve of the crimson dress whose color very closely resembled that of Picard and Riker’s uniforms.

“Now that’s a right beautiful one, I’ll get it down for you.”

That corner of the closet was quite far from the door. Lilly had needed to hold her left hand out toward the closet door so that the rope she still held onto wouldn’t go taut and concern Riker.

It wasn’t until she had carefully stepped on the loop while the maid had put the last overskirt piece of the dress on that the maid finally commented on the rope.

“Your husband seems uncommon protective of you,” she said disapprovingly. “Might have done him better to keep you from dressing so--”

“Not husband, thank you,” Lilly said, widening her eyes at the thought.

“Now for your hair,” the maid said, her face showing a kind of polite disbelief that Lilly had absolutely seen in period dramas on television before.

Commander Riker had tugged on the rope once while she was dressing, and did so again while she sat still and allowed the holographic maid to fuss with her hair. To distract from this, Lilly asked the maid a few questions that she hoped would also prevent another rash of comments about Riker.

“Is this your first time… working here?”

“No, miss,” came the surprising answer. “I’ve mostly worked for Master Holmes, but a few times I were called to the professor’s, as well.”

“Where do you go in between? When you’re not actively working, I mean?” Lilly asked, suddenly intensely curious about what her answer could be. Behind her, the maid’s hands paused in the act of pinning a meticulous braid to itself in the center of Lilly’s head.

“I don’t rightly know, miss. Cook says it’s the emptiness, but I don’t--”

“Do you dread it?” Lilly asked, unable to help herself.

The maid was silent at this question. Lilly could see her trembling in the mirror. 

“Don’t worry about it. I was just curious,” Lilly said, hoping her matter-of-fact tone would help ease the tension. The very fact that the maid  _ had an answer _ to the first question was fascinating. This gave her an idea, though it would really hinge on the ruleset the program operated under. She sat still until the maid continued pinning.

“There. You look lovely, if you don’t mind my saying so, miss!”

The dress fit perfectly. It was deep red, in the style of a day dress, so the collar was lifted to her chin and edged with soft lace. The long sleeves had the same lace bursting from the cuffs, with sashes of wide, beautiful fabric with gold, white, and crimson flowers to match the solid red of the dress. The skirt was long with a few stripes of the contrast fabric horizontally at the bottom hem. Thankfully even the shoes were comfortable, for all that they were an ancient style at that point. Ordinarily, Lilly didn’t wear heels but these had a good three-quarter inch thick heel to them, and internally, she laughed. This would put her almost at head-height with Moriarty himself, who if she was right, was of a similar height to Picard.

“Thank you!” she finally said to the maid, turning to look at her full on instead of through her reflection. 

The maid smiled, then seemed to pull herself into a more serious, professional demeanor and asked, “Will that be all then, miss?”

“You’ll disappear to the emptiness if I say yes, won’t you?” Lilly asked, adjusting the way the rope loop sat on her finger.

The maid looked terrified for a second, then relieved, and then she nodded. 

“Well, as it happens, that’s  _ not _ all. I will be asked to stay here for a while, and I think I'll need to call you again. So please don’t disappear. Perhaps you can tell me about the professor?”

The relieved expression dropped from the maid’s face, morphing into fear.

“Oh, no, no, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Lilly rushed to say, reaching out for the maid’s hand. “Forget I asked. Just, please don’t go. I still need you, I’ll come here for you, or-- can I call for you? And you could move to wherever I am without starting out in the emptiness first? What is your name?”

“It’s Maude, miss. Thank you, miss.”

“You’ll be able to find something to do? You won’t get in trouble?” Lilly asked, almost regretting her impulse to keep Maude around.

“I can launder your things, for one, and the dark blue gown in the closet has a rip in the lace that I could fix. Might take me  _ hours,” _ Maude said with a shy smile.

“Perfect,” Lilly said. Internally, she thought that it was quite possible that she would never feel fully comfortable in a holodeck ever, ever again.

“When you need me, miss, just call for me by name,” Maude told her. “I’d best be off.” 

She watched Maude as she picked up Lilly’s modern clothing as if it were infested with the plague, for all that they were neatly folded. Lilly was still shaking her head about it when she opened the door to leave.

888888888888

Will hadn’t wanted to walk far along the hallway, knowing if he tugged too hard on his end of the rope, it might send the wrong message to Lilly. However, he was able to see that there were two other doors along the hallway, and the one he could reach was a linen closet.

The dressing room door opened, and Lilly stepped out. Her outfit matched his uniform so well that Will couldn’t help asking her about it.

“Did you have to ask the computer for that dress?” he said, watching her coil up the rope and letting go of it at the right moment.

She grinned up at him, causing the curly bit of hair not caught up in the bun to fall away from her face. “No! It was already there. Tactical mistake, right? He wanted to show that he has control of me, but whose loyalty do you think I’m displaying now?” She finished coiling, and said, “Computer, can you give me a decorative pouch that I can clip onto my dress, maybe five inches or so?” Lilly held out her hand flat, and a deep red velvet pouch appeared on it. She tucked her tight coil of rope inside it, and made a little ‘Ha!’ noise, showing him the jeweled safety pin hidden in the gathers of the cinch.

“You’re keeping the rope?” he asked, surprised.

“You never know when rope will come in handy, Commander,” Lilly said, pinning the pouch at her right hip. It didn’t look out of place, somehow, though some of that had to do with how beautiful she looked in the outfit. Her unruly blonde hair was attractive gathered up in the period style, and the dress itself was magnificent. He had to stop himself from staring. They started toward the sitting room door. As he followed behind her and saw the way the dress accentuated her hips, he couldn’t help but say something.

“I can’t believe he thought what you wearing before was more indecent than--”

Lilly turned around and looked up at him with such sudden ferocity that the words dusted in his mouth. “Do go on?” she said imperiously.

“That dress shows more of the shape of your body than the shirt and pants did, the only difference is that the previous outfit showed your legs, and this one…” His courage failed him as she crossed her arms under the tight bodice. “Never mind,” he said, trying one of his flirtatious grins as a last resort.

Her cheeks pinked, but her expression remained disapproving. The turn she made to face the door was accentuated by the way she was able to sweep her skirts around her. As soon as she touched the doorknob, though, the door opened, and Moriarty stepped through. Lilly backed up, and Will deliberately rested his hand against the wall beside them, hoping to look more intimidating.

“I believe the captain’s arrival is imminent. I have no intention of revealing more than necessary, however. Commander, I must ask you to follow me.”

Lilly’s hand flew to the pouch on her waist, but she relocated it quickly to her stomach, playing her reaction off as pained surprise.

“I’m not leaving her alone with you.” Will’s voice was stark and decisive.

“Commander, I promise you, my heart belongs to another. Her virtue is as safe with me as it would be with her own uncle,” Moriarty said, inclining his head to Lilly very slightly as he spoke.

“If you think I won’t reveal that you’ve taken Riker too, you’re wrong, sir,” Lilly said with quiet intensity.

“I don’t think either of us will worry too much about that, my dear. You shall both see what I mean. Come.”

Moriarty walked past the two of them and paused in the hallway, his arm held out for Lilly to take it as if he were escorting her. Instead, Lilly slid her hand around Will’s arm, and something about the way she’d chosen to reject Moriarty and actively choose Will instead made his heart twist inside him.

“Such gentle defiance. I look forward to learning more about you. Even your name, perhaps,” Moriarty teased, widening his eyes briefly.

He led them to the door Will wasn’t able to reach earlier. Inside was a dining room, the long table clear of adornments. A carved wood sideboard lined the windows. On it was a pitcher of clear water and glass cups waiting to be used, as well as a cutting board with bread and cheese, but no knife. As they walked farther in, Will saw an odd shimmer in the air that seemed to bisect the room. At either side, parallel to the shimmer, there were two divans. On the wall nearest them there was a door, presumably leading to the sitting room.

“As you can see, I have no intention of leaving you in discomfort, Commander. I have been playing with the various powers Mr. Computer grants me here. Would you be so kind as to walk to the far wall?” Moriarty said, looking at Will.

Lilly squeezed his arm, invisible to their captor, and he felt strangely bolstered by her courage. As he strode past Moriarty toward the other side of the room, he heard the other man speak.

“Mr. Computer, lift barrier.” The shimmer disappeared so quickly that Will was unable to discern where exactly it had been. “Resume,” Moriarty said a few seconds later. “Now, I’m sure you’ve seen such barriers employed in your ship’s brig. However, this next ability is truly astonishing. Young lady, I ask you to open the door between this room and the next.”

Frowning, Will watched Lilly cross to the door that led to Holmes’s sitting room. As soon as she opened it, the barrier in the center of the room turned completely opaque, hiding the other half of the room completely. What was more, he couldn’t hear anything. Will walked up to the now-grey barrier and touched it with an elbow, wincing after receiving the expected sting.

“Computer, lower force field, authorization--” Will stopped when he couldn’t hear his own voice. Giving Moriarty his authorization code would have been a bad idea anyway, but the inability to communicate with the computer at all was a problem. He walked over to the table and rapped on it with his knuckles.

Again, Will heard no sound. He stomped his foot-- nothing. He’d known of this kind of technology but couldn’t remember what it was called. It wasn’t a surprise that the Enterprise’s computer was capable of reproducing it in the holodeck, but Moriarty finding out about it was unexpected. Will wondered if the computer would implement something of this level of sophistication when asked to silence a room?

He was in the process of examining where the opaque field intersected with the glass of the window when it turned transparent again.

“As you see, Commander, your charge will be quite safe and can even remain in the room with you!” Moriarty said. His politeness felt sinister, and Will caught Lilly’s eye, raising his eyebrows in a silent question about her welfare. Only after she nodded and gave him a shaky smile did Will turn his attention back to Moriarty.

“You’ve thought of everything,” he said, smiling in a way he hoped the villain would find disconcerting. In truth, Moriarty might leave the two of them a small sliver of time, if Will was right. Presumably, Moriarty would open the door between the rooms and show Picard that Lilly was in his power, while ensuring that she could neither reveal Will’s physical presence nor shout any warnings. During that time, she would also be unable to request any assistance from the ship’s computer to communicate either.

However, he and Lilly might be able to ask for paper and something to write with before the professor opened the door. Will avoided looking at Lilly and kept his gaze on Moriarty.

“I believe that I have,” Moriarty finally said, but Will saw that he was suspicious. Instead of saying anything else, he nodded respectfully to both of them and left the room. Will listened for the sound of the door locking, but he didn’t hear it.

Lilly moved swiftly over to the door and opened it easily. “He’s not in the hallway. Computer, lift barrier?”

An error chime sounded.  _ “Command not authorized.” _

“Worth a try,” Will said. Lilly shut the door again. “Computer, paper and black ink pen, please?”

The error chime sounded again.  _ “Command not authorized.” _

“Ah! Damnit, I was sure that--”

“So was I,” Will interrupted. He watched as she scrambled at the bag on her waist. “What are you…” His voice trailed off as he watched her pull out the coil of rope, holding one looped end against her stomach as she threaded the other through it. Then, she slid that join to one hip, letting the rope fall slack as she tucked the loose end through her makeshift waistband. After letting it fall slack one more time, she tucked the foot or so of loose end multiple times around the waist rope, and turned toward him.

The rope looked decorative, despite the crude material clashing with the expensive fabric of her dress. Will looked at her face and saw her proud, amused expression, then looked at the rope again.

It made a recognizable W shape by the way it lay over her skirt.

“I am  _ so _ glad to have gotten to meet you in person,” Will said, consumed by admiration.

“Flatterer,” Lilly scoffed, but she looked a bit flustered. She walked over to the door to the sitting room and laid her ear on the wood. “I think they’ve arrived.”

“Do you recognize any voices? Who is with the captain?”

“Definitely Data, and I think-- Yeah, that nervous engineer,” Lilly said after listening for a while.

“That would be Lieutenant Barclay,” Will said. Lilly looked over at him sharply. “He is very good at his job.”

“I could tell. I am actually… well, don’t take this the wrong way, but I was really happy to meet him,” Lilly said, leaning on the wall beside the door. “He clearly has some challenges, and seeing that he’s able to work on the Enterprise is one of the things that makes me feel glad about where my people’s future is headed.”

Will lifted his eyebrows. For her part, Lilly shook her head and winced.

“Not that kind of ‘my people.’ The human race, really,” she said. Then her expression pinched into that of fear, and she whispered, “He’s coming. I’ll do my--”

The rest of her statement was cut off by the computer’s silencing technology, and the last thing Will saw before the barrier turned opaque was her blue eyes looking back at him, an expression of worry on her face.


	5. Troubleshooting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lilly must figure out how to close a door on the other side of a force field. Later, she and Will work together to figure out how Moriarty was able to appear to leave the holodeck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full disclosure: I do some holodeck worldbuilding here, and if it doesn’t actually fit with the schematics of the ship, then that’s because our learning about the actual truth might damage the future ;)

###  Chapter Five: Troubleshooting

When Lilly first saw Captain Picard, his reaction upon seeing her made her more determined than ever to communicate with him in any way she could manage. She was actually surprised by how upset he seemed by the fact that Moriarty had her in his power. After all, Picard was quite the diplomat, and he had to know how much power it gave the villain to know his captive was valuable in the hero’s eyes. She consoled herself with the idea that Moriarty might not know Picard as well as she did, and might miss the extent of his distress.

She wasn’t able to hear their conversation in the sitting room, but as soon as Moriarty turned to more fully face the Starfleet group, she pushed toward the doorway. Immediately, the electric buzz of a completely invisible barrier stung her, even through her clothing!

Everyone in the room looked in her direction, clearly having heard the noise the barrier had made. Moriarty shook his head at her, but she focused her attention on Jean-Luc. Lilly brushed a hand along her stomach, as if settling herself from being literally shocked. Then, carefully, she smoothed out her skirt on either side of the rope, looking down to check that it still approximated a W. Picard’s head tipped sideways as he watched her, his eyes narrowing. He was clearly in information gathering mode, but Moriarty moved to block his sight of her and called for the arch, refocusing the captain toward the clear threat.

She tried not to be disappointed. Data had also turned toward Moriarty, but the nervous engineer seemed frozen in place, looking at her. She met his eyes, and the regret she saw there made her wish she could reassure him somehow. He mouthed ‘I’m so sorry.’ She could make out the words clearly, even though she couldn’t hear him.

“Riker!” she said, exaggerating the name in hopes that Barclay would recognize the Rs on either end of the word. She pointed to the room behind her.

Behind Barclay, an object flew through the air. Lieutenant Barclay turned away from her to look, and as she watched, the four men began discussing something that seemed quite serious.

Then, Professor James Moriarty walked purposefully toward the arch, walking out into the hallway beyond. Picard, Data, and Barclay soon followed. Lilly was astonished. How had Moriarty, a hologram, walked out of the holodeck into the actual ship? She’d seen the corridor outside, and none of them had come back, so she was certain that it wasn’t some strange trick of the eye. There was only so much holodeck space in each of the rooms, after all! Despite not growing up with holotechnology, everything in her limited experience had told her that what she’d seen was completely impossible.

“Solid holograms are impossible in your time too, you know!” she said aloud. She didn’t hear any of the sound she’d made, though she felt the vibrations of her speech. Lilly was momentarily distracted by the idea that the sound dampening technology could somehow prevent her from hearing herself even as transmitted to her ears through her own bone structure. She was trapped with the single worst person on the ship to ask that question, though, and unless she could manage to get the door closed, neither of them could communicate at all. 

Commander Riker probably wished she didn’t know about half of the things she’d already learned that day, the strangest of which was how a hologram could be seen leaving the holodeck! Right now, though, she had a more pressing situation than worrying about how Moriarty had managed that. 

Lilly pushed herself as close to the doorway as she could without activating the force field so she could see more of the room. With no one else to shut the door, she and Riker would be trapped in silence until Moriarty returned. She looked at the door. If the doorknob had anything she could catch her rope on, she might be able to close it that way. Lilly started untangling her W signal. 

Leaving the rope attached to her waist, she made a wide loop that could tighten around the doorknob if she managed to snag it. She decided to toss it the first time, instead of trying to swing it around like a ranch hand beforehand.

A second later, Lilly was grateful that she hadn’t given the rope any extra velocity. The barrier sent the rope bouncing back into her face.

Screaming swear words into the silent void was at least a small bit satisfying, Lilly decided. It was a shitty silver lining, though.

She leaned against the wall to consider her options. If she couldn’t even hear her own voice, that likely meant that anything spoken in their dead zone was somehow muffled before it had a chance to be audible. That meant that if she screamed next to the edge of the barrier, the sound wouldn’t escape. That didn’t mean much when the only two people she could call for help in the first place were Riker and the maid, anyway.

Jogging over to the other door, Lilly opened it. She was just about to stick her hand through the empty space before she remembered what that would feel like if there was a barrier there. She’d tucked most of the rope into the dark red pouch, so she pulled out a length of it, and the rest fell to the floor.

“I’ve come to the end of my rope!” she joked. Not being able to hear herself laugh was a completely surreal experience.

The rope triggered the expected barrier at that doorway too, and she sighed, walking back to the center of the room and sinking into one of the dining room chairs. Coiling the rope up and tucking it back into its pouch, she tried to think of the best way to use the only resource she might be able to access outside of the room: Maude. Lilly cast her mind back to what had happened when she’d tried to walk through the door to the sitting room. The group on the other side had heard the reaction of the barrier.

Rejuvenated, Lilly got up, walked over to the sideboard, grabbed a candlestick, and headed for the hallway door. Then she started pounding on the force field with the candlestick.

The vibrations of the barrier’s reaction echoed up through the metal of the candlestick, and she was only able to do it five times before she dropped the thing and held her hand in pain. In a fit of frustration, Lilly kicked it.

Her shoes were made of thick stuff, and  _ that _ didn’t hurt anywhere near as much as she’d expected.  _ Another silver lining _ , she laughed to herself.

It was only after her hand had stopped aching that she realized that even if she had gotten Maude’s attention at that doorway, Lilly wouldn’t have been able to adequately communicate what she needed from her. 

What was left to do?

_ If they could hear the sound of me connecting with the barrier, and that sound occurred at the plane of the barrier itself, would another sound made at that intersection also be audible? _ she asked herself. Maude had told her to call her name when she was needed, which tracked with the way the holodeck’s holographic characters seemed to operate.

Walking back over to the sitting room doorway was more intimidating this time. To accomplish what she was thinking, Lilly would have to smash her lips against the barrier and scream for Maude before the pain got too intense. She imagined she would only manage one attempt.

Lilly looked at the doorway and decided to split her task into manageable segments. Step one was to determine where exactly the barrier sat in the space, so she could be precise and not bounce off, lips first. She pulled out the rope yet again, and over the next few minutes she figured out where she needed to aim. With her hands resting on the frame itself, Lilly stretched out the rope between them, then pushed on that rope with her chin, noting how far it needed to move before contacting the force field.

After a few deep breaths to psych herself up, Lilly aimed for the correct point, positioning her lips at the position to start the letter M before smashing them against the barrier.

“MAUDE!” she screamed, falling back in a jumble of skirts, rope, tears, and hands. The pain in her lips was excruciating, more intense than the electric sting she’d felt earlier. She remained crumpled on the floor with one hand cupped over her lips and the other against the floor for what felt like eternity.

It wasn’t until she realized she couldn’t hear herself sobbing that Lilly remembered she had to look up to see if Maude had come. She wiped her eyes on one sleeve and checked.

Maude was there. She looked like she’d just arrived, because she was starting for the doorway with determination. Lilly desperately held up both hands in a stop motion. After gracelessly getting up, Lilly pointed to the door and then used both hands to mime shutting it. Maude was speaking, but Lilly couldn’t hear her, and she resisted yelling back despite the dampener.

Finally, Maude understood Lilly’s pantomime and shut the door. Lilly collapsed against the wall beside it, her forehead against the cool wood paneling.

“Lilly!” Riker called out. She heard the sound of something hitting the barrier. He must have either forgotten it was there or was testing it to get to her anyway.

“I’m here, I’m fine,” she said. The words were distorted by her swollen lips, but to her own ears they sounded understandable.

“Miss, Miss!”

“Thank you Maude,” Lilly said, turning her head without lifting it. She rested her shoulder against the wall, and waved weakly at Riker, who was pacing back and forth.

“Can I get you anything? Please say yes, Miss. You look in a very bad way!” Maude said, twisting her hands in front of her in distress.

“Maybe some ice to press against my lips?”

“I cannot get it here but I will leave and return, I swear, Miss.”

Lilly was fascinated by the way Maude didn’t simply disappear and reappear with the ice. It was as if she feared what she called the ‘emptiness’ so much she didn’t want to use it even when it would benefit her. Lilly stood up to watch, and right as the maid touched the door handle, she thought of something.

“Wait!” Lilly said, walking over to the middle of the room while smoothing out her hopelessly wrinkled skirts. “Could you get me a few lemons?”

“Lemons?” both Maude and Riker repeated at the same time.

“Please?” She’d smiled at their unison repetition, but while the sting had faded, her lips were still uncomfortable and swollen a bit, so the smile had been hard-won.

“Yes, of course Miss,” the maid said. She even bobbed a little curtsey.

“You don’t have to--” Lilly started to say, but Maude was already gone.

“You’ll have to get used to that, you know,” Riker noted, lifting his eyebrows.

“That feels like it’s so far into the future right now, I can’t even tell you,” Lilly told him, falling into a chair. For his part, Riker pulled over a chair from his side up to a few inches from the barrier, placing one foot on it as he leaned toward her on that leg. He looked as far from a captive as possible. Combined with his body language, the Commander’s concerned expression made a picture of a man completely focused on her. Given how little time they’d spent together, particularly alone, Lilly found it disconcerting and even a little attractive. Riker was a powerful man on the Enterprise, and having his attention made her feel important in a really strange, stomach-fluttering way.

She’d have to get used to having the attention of powerful men someday too, she reminded herself.

Lilly ignored the way Q fit into that statement.

“Tell me what happened?” Riker said.

With everything that she’d had to do in order to see and hear him again, Lilly had almost forgotten the most important thing she’d learned in the past hour. She sat up, freshly alarmed about the implications of what she’d seen.

“Commander, Moriarty seems to have left the holodeck!”

He frowned. “That’s not possible.”

“I didn’t think so either, but I watched him. The captain threw a book out of the doors, and it disappeared. Then the professor made a big deal about walking over to the doors too, and stepped out. Data, Picard, and Barclay all seemed really shocked, and then they followed him.”

“Are the doors still there?” Riker asked, straightening up with his own sense of urgency.

“No, I watched them disappear while I was trying to figure out how to get the door closed.”

“Ah, that’s what took so long, then. Is that why you’re--” he made a gesture with his hand around his own face.

She nodded. “He left the door open when he left. I don’t know if it was on purpose or not, really-- it’s possible he was distracted by his plan, whether or not he really did leave the holodeck.” Lilly shook her head, trying to understand what she’d seen. “You call it impossible, but isn’t it impossible for him to even know what the computer even  _ is?” _

“He’s an enhanced version of a holographic character, at this point,” Riker said. He went on to explain an odd power surge he and Worf had witnessed at around the same time that Geordi had asked the computer to create ‘an opponent with the ability to defeat Data.’ “The captain and Data both think this imbued him with something closer to actual consciousness than a regular hologram, especially when it pertains to the ability to learn.”

“Great, so if he managed to trick Picard and Data into believing they are witnessing his ascent into humanity, what does he gain by that?”

Riker smiled, though it had less joy to it than usual. “Good, old-fashioned revenge is one of the most human things I can think of.”

8888888888

Lilly looked like she was about to ask him more questions, but the maid came back before she had the chance to. Will was very curious to know what Lilly had done during the time he couldn’t see or hear her. She’d looked completely wrung out when he first saw her afterwards, though she had rallied quite well since then.

He refocused on what the maid and Lilly were saying.

“--you see whether you’re able to cross the barrier, over by the Commander?”

“If you’re asking me to, yes, Miss,” the maid said. She made as if to hand Lilly the basket of lemons she was holding, but Lilly smiled kindly and told her to hold onto them. 

“Trust me, okay?” Lilly said.

Will knew instinctively that she had some sort of plan. He tried to steel himself against the admiration he seemed to always feel when he spent time with Lilly. She was, after all, the embodiment of the ‘perfect woman’ he’d chosen to pretend was his, in the Academy. That meant she already had an advantage over being able to manipulate him, albeit unconsciously.

The maid crossed the barrier with no difficulty.

“That’s great, Maude!” Lilly praised. “Now, can you shake his hand? I need to test something.”

Will could see that the maid was afraid to approach him, so he bowed his head to her. “It is nice to meet you, miss,” he said, holding his hand out. When she placed her hand in his, he made as if to kiss it.

“Now there’s no need for all of that!” Maude said, giggling. Will backed off, nodding respectfully.

“Well, that’s checked off,” Lilly said. “Commander, could you try calling for the arch?”

He wanted to ask her what she was up to, but decided to wait until they were truly alone. This particular program’s holographic characters were far too realistic for his liking. In his mind’s eye, he saw a flash of Minuet, but instead of her face-framing brown hair, she had Lilly’s blonde instead. It was a disturbing mix of the two women he was most attracted to.

_ Shit, _ Will thought to himself. He’d been trying to avoid admitting his attraction to Lilly.  _ That starship has sailed. _

“Computer, arch,” Will said. Nothing happened.

“Now you, Maude.”

“But, Professor Moriarty--”

Lilly interrupted her with a voice that was kind but commanding. “He told you to help me. If you’re helping me and he doesn’t like what you’ve done, that’s on  _ me, _ not you.”

“I don’t know what to even say, Miss!” The maid’s expression was full of anxious uncertainty.

“Say, ‘computer, arch.’ Nothing more, nothing less. Either it will appear or it won’t, and either one gives me needed information,” Lilly said calmly.

Will watched Maude make eye contact with Lilly and nearly immediately start breathing in and out slowly, instead of with the half-gasps she’d been using.

“Computer, arch?”

The arch appeared.

“Very good! Thank you, Maude!” Lilly said. “I just need one more thing.”

Maude’s breathing quickened even though she and Lilly were looking at each other. Will suspected why. He stepped over to the table and leaned back on it, watching the two women.

“Now, Maude, I know you’re afraid of the emptiness, but that’s why you still have the lemons,” Lilly said.

“The lemons, Miss?”

“Yes. I still need them.”

Maude stepped toward Lilly but immediately stopped, as Lilly threw up a hand to stop her and frowned deeply.

“No, Maude, they’re your ticket back. If you go through the doors and they let you, that’s helpful. If you go through and disappear into the emptiness, you can come right back, because I’m not done needing you!”

Will realized that the word ‘need’ that Lilly kept repeating must have a specific meaning to the maid.

“I don’t think I can do it, Miss! I’m ever so afraid,” the maid whispered.

Lilly’s expression hardened. “There are things I need to know, Maude. Things you can help me with. If you can’t help me with them, I won’t need you anymore.”

Maude’s face crumpled, and Will watched, rapt, and Lilly walked right up to the barrier. She still looked like a stern mother chastising a wayward child, but her voice was soft again.

“Maude, I don’t think Professor Moriarty is the only holographic character affected by what’s happened here. You shouldn’t know about the emptiness at all, did you know that? You said the cook mentioned it, too, right?”

Maude nodded enthusiastically.

“I want to help you avoid the emptiness, but I can’t do that without information.”

“What does it mean if I can go through?”

“I’ll be honest, I don’t know yet. But it’s still very important,” Lilly said. “I’ll make it as easy as I can for your stated purpose in the story, though, okay? Maude, I  _ need _ you to go through those doors.”

“And afterwards, you can come right back to bring her the lemons she needs,” Will said. Maude jumped at hearing his voice, and he smiled his most winning smile at her.

Maude nodded, her wide eyes fixed on his face. “All right.”

He heard Lilly grumble something about ‘ridiculous smile’ and filed that away under something he wanted to examine alone, out of her company.

Maude held onto the basket with both hands pulled tight against her chest, as if the lemons could be some sort of shield against the worst of what she expected to encounter. Then, with a deep breath and a shy smile in his direction, she walked toward the doors. To her credit, she didn’t stop, continuing to take one determined step after another until she disappeared from sight upon crossing the threshold of the doors.

_ “Those _ doors are real,” Lilly said.

“--and the ones Moriarty went through were not,” Will finished for her. “My turn,” he said, and before she could react, he walked toward the doors, only to be repelled by the barrier he’d expected to see there.

“He must have made sure that it would show up on whatever doors spawned. That means if I tell Maude I need a new door, it’s not likely to get us out of here,” Lilly said, sounding disappointed.

Maude appeared again at Lilly’s side and held out the basket of lemons. Instead of taking them right away, Lilly put one hand on either of Maude’s upper arms and smiled at her.

“You did it! Thank you so much. If there’s something you want to go do, I really need you to go do that now, okay? I can always call for you otherwise, right?”

“Yes, Miss. I will, Miss,” Maude said. She practically ran toward the door until she seemed to remember that wasn’t proper behavior for a maid, and slowed down. She bobbed another curtsey at the door, went through it, and shut it behind her.

“Well done,” Will murmured.

Lilly smiled ruefully at him. “Have we really learned anything though? You already said it was impossible for him to leave the holodeck. We’ve basically proved that he’s a clever master criminal, well done, us!”

“Certainty is better than a hunch,” Will said.

“What I want to know is, how did he pull it off? The holodeck is only so big! With us in here, he’s got, what, half of the holodeck to work from, at this point? Surely they’ll figure it out?” Suddenly her face fell and her hands came up to rub at the sleeves on her arms. “Never mind. I know you don’t want me to know too much about technology from this century.” She turned away and started dragging her chair away.

“Lilly.” Will put some of the affection he already felt for her into his intonation, and as he hoped, she stopped. She didn’t turn around, though. “I sense that you had to go through a lot of stress figuring out how to get that door shut. Keeping things secret isn’t more important than working together to get out of this.”

She turned her head just enough that he saw her face in profile. “The last thing I want to do is be the person that convinces you to compromise your principles.”

_ Too late, _ Will’s initial response was. Luckily he managed to keep the sentiment inside his own head. Instead, he said, “If you are, that’s my choice, not yours.”

Her answering smile made him feel like he’d really accomplished something. Instead of coming back with her chair, she stood behind it and rested her hands on the back. Her poise and willingness to trust him took him by surprise.

“All right, then. I saw comprehension in your eyes when I asked about how it was possible. Will you tell me?”

Will nodded. “The first three holodecks are in a line, one next to each other. They’re not generally visible, but there are doors that connect them, not just to each other, but to a holodeck that’s not available to the general population of the ship,” he said. “That one is much larger, both in width and height. As often as we can, usually twice a year, we stop at certain Starfleet outposts so that their engineering teams can work in there. It also comes in handy for our own crew that we can troubleshoot in Holodeck E instead of on the actual equipment.”

“So basically you have a dedicated science holodeck so you can try things out on a fake engine in there instead of the real one?”

“Yes.”

Lilly came out from behind her chair and started pacing. “That means if we’re right, and the captain and the others are still on the holodeck, they ended up going through that hallway-- I assume it’s fitted with the same technology, so even though it’s narrow, it still appears as whatever it’s meant to?”

He nodded, enjoying watching her figure it out.

“So it may have looked like the corridor outside Holodeck Three, but wherever they went from there was actually located on Holodeck E. That one is big enough that it might be possible that Data could think he was in Engineering, and Jean-Luc on the bridge, right? And of course, that won’t affect us here at all.”

“That’s what I’m thinking, yes,” he said. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Lilly gasped.

“So for Data, Picard, and Barclay, everyone’s there but fake, including  _ you, _ but the real Enterprise is without at least three of its main leaders right now!”

“I’m not as worried about that,” Will said. ‘Not as worried’ was relative, but he wasn’t going to say that out loud to her. “My big issue is whether Moriarty will re-institute his control over propulsion. We’re positioned to watch the formation of a new star, and we can’t stay here for longer than twenty-four hours.”

“What! How on Earth are you calm right now?” Lilly demanded, marching up to the barrier.

He laughed. “I wouldn’t be second in command of the flagship of Starfleet without learning a little bit about situational awareness. Would it do me any good to be upset right now?”

“I’m not the promotion board, or whoever will decide to give you command of a ship someday, Commander, you don’t need to strut for me,” Lilly said, spinning around to stalk back toward her chair. She was shaking her head. “All right, if you’re not worried, then I’m going to choose not to freak out either.” Her hand was trembling when she placed it back on the back of the chair, but she didn’t turn around. 

Will stayed silent, trying not to laugh. Not very many women were brave enough to put him in his place, not as first officer of the Enterprise. He knew Lilly had an inkling of what that meant, status-wise. She just didn’t care.

“We need to get at least one of the trapped Enterprise crew members here along with Moriarty, and then stop them from going back to Holodeck E,” she said. “And now that I’ve said that out loud, I’ve earned us the old secret society conundrum.”

“Oh?” Will asked.

She turned to offer him an apologetic smile. “If I were Moriarty, I’d record us. And once I did, I’d make sure we’d get exactly what we wanted, along the same vein as what he’s done for Picard, Barclay, and Data.”

“Fake crew,” Will said. “You’re right. What’s the solution to the conundrum where you came from?”

“Not biometrics, that’s for sure!” she said, laughing. “Mostly secret knowledge. Things the computer on the Enterprise wouldn’t know, or wouldn’t know how to effectively extract from thousands of hours of dialogue recordings throughout the ship. But of course, some of that information involves things we don’t want Moriarty to know.”

He knew she was referring to her own secret identity, just as he’d alluded to it in his own question. Will felt a rush of relief that he’d asked the computer to lock down her identity to prevent Edward Jellico from accessing it. The memory of doing that was fuzzy, but he knew he must have. He shook his head. A great deal of the memories around Jellico’s tenure on the Enterprise were just…  _ missing, _ or fractured, and nothing about that made sense. He made a mental note to talk to Lilly about that.

That mental note reminded him of one he’d made earlier.

“Before I forget again, why lemons?” Will asked.

“Oh, well, I saw there was a water pitcher,” Lilly said, walking over to stand near where he was, close to the barrier that separated them. “I thought I might add them to the water, you know, to cover the taste. Maude thought it might help.”

As she spoke, Lilly dug a small bottle of liquid from the rope pouch at her hip and held it up. There was a label on it reading ‘Sydenham’s Laudanum.’ The maid had done the eighteenth century equivalent of giving Lilly a hypospray for pain.

“Brilliant idea. I always hated the taste of plain water,” Will said, grinning in approval.

“Oh, that’s not for you,” she said, tucking the vial back into her pouch. “Might help us keep the professor with us, when he visits again, though. He might fall asleep out of sheer boredom.”

Ordinarily, a liquid created on the holodeck would not carry any mind or body altering properties, but all of that was up in the air when it came to  _ this _ program. He didn’t want to mention that to Lilly, anyway. If she intended to try to drug Moriarty, the substance might work exactly as intended on him. Laudanum was an opiate, and an addictive one, too. He’d learned about that class of banned drugs when he was still a schoolchild in Alaska.

Will was pulled out of his thoughts by the sight of Lilly waving her hand in his line of sight. “What are my orders, Commander? I have no intention of simply sitting here and waiting for our host to return.”

“I thought you told me once I had no authority over you,” Will teased, seating himself backwards on the chair.

“I defer to your experience in getting yourself into and then out of dangerous situations all the time, as you mentioned earlier,” she sassed back.

He  _ had _ meant that, Will knew, even though that wasn’t the wording he’d used. Lilly seemed to have a way of instinctively understanding him. That made it very easy for him to feel as if the two of them already had a shorthand thanks to time spent together, but that wasn’t the case at all. Will had meticulously kept away from her. He didn’t want to think about having to do that again, once they were out of this situation.

“In that case,” he said, “I’ll take what I can get.” Will got up and walked over to the window. “I wanted to see whether there’s a barrier on the other side of this. If we’re right, Moriarty may still be on the holodeck, but he’s a room away, and out of his element. Picard said that when he took physical control of the ship, he did so by creating a facsimile of what that kind of control looked like on a warship. He likely would not be able to access any kind of surveillance of us until he returns to this house. In his century, ‘surveillance systems’ were a human network of people, not computers and cameras.”

“Holodeck physics don’t  _ have _ to follow regular time and space rules, though. There’s nothing to stop him from walking from Ten Forward right into this room, if he wanted to, though, is there?”

“No, but I think Moriarty has to be careful not to disturb the illusion. If he’s created a ship in a bottle, an Enterprise inside the Holodeck network, the best way to maintain it is to keep it as simple as possible.”

Lilly nodded. “So our hope here is that he thinks like an eighteen century human. When looking for escape, he’d create a new door, not a window. Should I call the maid? If she could call for the arch, she might be able to create a new window.”

“Good thinking,” Will told her. “Moriarty’s still her employer, though. He may be able to call her to report on what she’s been doing, even if the captain offers him quarters of his own. Human surveillance, remember?” On hearing this, Lilly bit her lip and looked away from him. She looked almost embarrassed, but Will kept going with his thought. “Actually, before we try anything with the window, you should release her from her obligation to you. I don’t like the idea that she could come check on you to see if you ‘need’ anything else.”

“I won’t do that,” Lilly said firmly. “I think she’s got some semblance of consciousness too. I see your argument and I agree that it’s valid, but I won’t consign her to what she calls the ‘emptiness,’ not if I have any chance of rescuing her from ever experiencing it again.”

Her expression was mulish but her argument was sound, so Will swallowed his concerns and nodded. “Noted. We’ll just have to try not to involve her until we have the power to do that.”

“Thank you,” she said. He could see that her thanks was heartfelt. Her demeanor switched back to businesslike. “Okay bear with me here, I have an idea.” 

On the sideboard in front of Will was the cutting board with the loaf of bread and slices of cheese. In front of Lilly, right near the barrier, was the pitcher of water and empty glasses. As Will watched her, Lilly took one of the glasses and placed it very close to the force field.

“Be ready to catch this, okay?” she said. He nodded. The glass was a fat, squat version of a wineglass, so she pushed the wide base across the plane of the barrier. It moved through as if nothing was there. “Can you push it back? I want to put some water in it,” Lilly asked him.

He did. The water didn’t change the result at all.

“Go ahead, make a ‘glass half full’ joke, if you still make those in the twenty-fourth century,” Lilly said. She covered her mouth with a hand right afterwards. “If  _ we _ still make those, I should say.”

“What’s done is done,” Will told her. “Back away from the windows for a minute?” When she did as he asked, he grabbed the end of the sideboard and pulled it, heavy as it was, along the wall on his side of the barrier. His arms were tired by the time he got it fully onto his side, but he was on his own, so he powered through it.

When he looked up, Lilly had already climbed up onto a chair at the middle of the room and was standing on it with one of the glasses, carefully tapping it higher and higher against the force field.

“It seems to go all the way up, which makes sense. The computer was likely told to separate the room into halves, not ‘keep any humans in the room from walking from one side to the other.’ Oh, well. Pole vaulting wasn’t one of my favorite activities anyway, especially not in a skirt.”

“What about climbing down the side of a two storey building?” Will asked her. Without the sideboard in the way, he saw the latches for both windows. By sheer luck of architecture, there was one on either side of the force field.

He and Lilly both unlatched their respective windows at the same time. They were casement windows, and for both of them, the entire lower half of the window swiveled outward in opposite directions from each other. He heard Lilly let out a bubble of disbelieving laughter.

“Shall we?” Will asked her, facing her and holding his left hand ready to plunge it through the gap. Lilly nodded, stepping close enough to position her right hand in a mirror to his. She grabbed a handful of her skirt in her own left hand as if too anxious not to be holding onto something.

“Count of three?” she asked.

“Yes. Ready? Three, two, one.”

He shoved his hand through and seconds later, he felt Lilly’s hand touch his, weaving their fingers together.


	6. One Down, One To Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lilly and Riker decide what to do about trying to escape, and Lilly deals with the aftermath of that decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, somehow I'd gone and named two chapters the same! I'm going to go ahead and rename it, and offer my apologies.

###  Chapter Six: One Down, One To Go

Lilly hadn’t expected to feel such a rush of excitement and sensation when she’d slid her hand into Riker’s. The jubilation she felt was more reasonable, as this was the first breakthrough the two of them had managed since Riker had walked into Holmes’s sitting room. His hand was warm, and something about it felt right and familiar. She didn’t know how to feel about that.

Riker squeezed gently and pulled away, and she saw that he’d needed to lean over quite far.

“How strong do you think that rope is?” he asked her, grinning.

Lilly held her hand against her chest, wishing she could shake the blush that kept threatening to reveal how affected she was by him. “No way is it long enough!” she protested.

“I’m over six feet tall, and it’s, what? At least ten feet?” Riker said. He leaned out of the window to look down. “I think we’d be fine.”

Lilly suddenly realized with complete clarity what she was going to have to do. “Not we. You,” she said, backing away from the window. “You have to get back to the ship, but one of us has to try to keep Moriarty here. I need to keep him away from Holodeck E.”

“What!” Riker’s expression and voice was thunderous. “You are too important to stay here as a hostage. We have to get you back to safety on the real ship. No discussion.”

Lilly shook her head, hugging her arms around herself. “Think about it like a leader, not like a bodyguard. You’re more than my bodyguard, Commander. You’re the last line of defense for the Enterprise! They’re the ones who need you right now.”

To her surprise, Riker started unzipping his uniform shirt. He stripped it off, sleeve by sleeve, and then threw it on the ground beside her, right through the force field. Then, as she watched in astonishment, Riker pushed his window out as far as it would go, sat on the sill, and started climbing from his window in through hers. 

The white shirt he was wearing underneath showed that he was fairly muscled, so she wasn’t as worried about his physical ability as much as the height from which he could fall. At one point, he looked unsteady, and Lilly tore her rope out of its pouch, bracing herself against the solid side of the window and holding it out to him. With it hooked around her, she thought she’d be able to help at least a little.

The blasted man smiled his most heart-stopping smile and shook his head, clambering in and dusting himself off. It hardly looked like the feat had been difficult for him. Only once he was standing fully upright did he take the rope she was still holding out as she stared at him.

“You’re insane,” Lilly whispered.

“So are you. I won’t let you stay here by yourself.”

Lilly backed away, forgetting that the other end of the rope was still looped around her waist.

“You’ll come around,” he said, patiently winding the rope around one of his large hands.

Her hands flew to her waist, tugging to loosen it enough to step out, but Riker had already eliminated most of the slack. Reluctantly, she walked toward him, unwilling to be dragged. Lilly held her hand out for the rope.

“How long am I going to have to argue with you to get you to do what you’re told?” he asked her, shaking his head with amused wonder.

“Forever!” she said, throwing her hands out beside her. For one second, she was tempted to try to twirl and dislodge his grip, but he looked pretty strong, and that seemed like a losing proposition when she factored in the heels and skirts. “Though I admit I’m much more inclined to listen to  _ this _ version of you than the disapproving, angry person you usually are around me.” 

There was a glimmer of affection in the look he gave her in response. It didn’t quite make her uncomfortable, but she felt like it should have, so she added, “Admit it, you just want the chance to throw me out the window.”

Riker burst out laughing. “If I thought you could argue with Moriarty the same way you argued with Jellico, I’d let you stay in a heartbeat,” he said.

Lilly frowned. “I argued with Jellico?”

“Are you kidding? You stood there after Picard passed him command and fairly dressed him down for ordering me to change the duty roster! He was so flustered he gave me more time.”

She reached out and snatched the rope out from Riker’s hand, taking advantage of his clear bafflement. “I don’t remember that at all. Though, wait, he came on board what, the day before? And he expected you to have the shifts changed by…”

“That evening. Less than twenty-four hours,” Riker said, still looking confused.

“That sounds like something I would bitch about,” Lilly said. His eyebrows shot upward. “I have no memory of that. Which begs the question: why would  _ that _ memory be lost?”

“You think Q was involved in the situation somehow?” he asked, frowning as she loosened the rope enough to pull the loop off above her head.

“It does sound more realistic than a hot-headed Starfleet captain threatening the Cardassians and  _ winning, _ but I really wouldn’t and shouldn’t know,” Lilly pointed out.

“Sounds like something we should talk about--”

“--when we’re both out of here,” Lilly finished for him. “I agree. Now scoot.”

“I don’t take orders from you,” Riker said, smiling flirtatiously at her again.

“Oh, stop that. You know exactly what kind of effect it has. Shame on you!” Lilly blurted out.

Riker feigned innocence. “What kind of effect  _ what _ has?”

“Never mind. What would persuade you to leave and take care of your ship? We don’t know how much time we have, and we know you can call for the arch.”

“Miss?” The doorknob on the hallway door rattled.

“Quick, put on your jacket and stand by the table, as close to the barrier at your back as you can. I’ll see if I can keep her out in the hallway,” Lilly whispered.

“You locked it?” Riker whispered back, looking impressed.

“Miss!”

“I’m here, I’m sorry, I thought you were the professor. I don’t really like that he locked us in here, I wanted warning when he came back,” Lilly said, as she opened the door. She kept it closed halfway while standing in the gap.

“I just wanted to warn you, Miss. The professor’s lady friend is arrived, she’s in the sitting room! She asked for tea and said she needs to freshen up before she meets you two,” Maude said, her eyes as wide as saucers. “She’s a grand lady. A  _ countess!” _

“Thank you, Maude, so much! I’ll make sure we’re ready, but not less than twenty minutes, I hope? The Commander and I have an argument to finish, and that’s not something to do in company,” Lilly said, putting on as persuasive a begging expression as she could.

“Oh, Miss, not for a little while yet, I promise. Countess says it’s at least that long before the professor comes back.”

“Perfect, thank you,” Lilly said, shutting the door as quickly as she could without being rude. 

When she turned around, Riker had already started to drag the sideboard back closer to where it had originally been. The thought,  _ Too bad he put his jacket back on! _ took her by surprise. To cover that, she pulled the rope out and held it out to him.

“I wouldn’t trust the loop to hold your entire weight, so you’ll want to strengthen it,” she said. Riker’s expression soured as he straightened and rubbed one hand at his shoulder. He was still not convinced to leave her behind, it seemed. “You know I’m not trying to imply anything bad about Beverly, Worf, and Deanna, right? It’s just… I have to assume that having the three highest ranking officers missing is stressful, whether or not there’s a star exploding in the near vicinity.”

Riker’s head tipped sideways as he looked at her. “You’re not afraid of what Moriarty might do to you here?”

“Sure I am,” Lilly said. “That’s why I want you to escape first. I can’t do anything to help. You can.”

He scratched at his beard and regarded her for a minute. Then he shook his head and took the rope. Pointing it at her, he said, “I’ll give you five hours. Any longer than that and I’ll call on your guardian angel to get you out of this.”

Lilly was confused for a long second, both by his sudden acquiescence and his reference to a guardian angel. Then, it hit her.

“Wait, Q? He’s more Hades than Seraphim, I assure you,” she said. “You’d better hurry, then. I need to be able to drop the rope back behind the sideboard and shut the windows before the maid comes back.”

Riker seemed to like her rapid dismissal of Q as a subject of conversation. He nodded. It took the two of them less time than she expected to tie the rope securely to the back leg of the sideboard. Lilly arranged the water, cheese, and bread on the table to make up for the fact that neither of them were willing to climb back to the other side of the barrier to arrange them on his end of the sideboard.

“Commander?” Lilly said, hesitantly.

“Hmm?” He was checking the knot again. His meticulousness made her worry he would renege on his promise to let her stay, but she guessed she’d find that out soon enough.

“I have this feeling that the two of us might have had a lot of animosity that for some reason was wiped out by Q’s memory spell. I can’t imagine why, but I just  _ know _ that there’s more there. I was already thinking that it might be a good idea to work that out so when the memories return--”

“You really think he’ll lose?” Riker asked in a voice loaded with wry disapproval.

“He’s insufferable, arrogant, and unscrupulous. I’m not worried,” she said. “I mean, you’ve met him, seen the way he behaves!”

Again, the ridiculous grin. “He’s not in love with  _ me.” _

“Yes, well, so far he doesn’t seem to have any idea what charm is, so I’m completely unconcerned,” Lilly said, feeling the twinge of her conscience. She was lying, but not by much.

“Good,” Riker said, faced away from her at the window. 

She stared at his back, a strange warmth in her stomach. This Riker seemed so different from her memories! That thought pushed her to finish her incomplete thought.

“When this is over, can I meet with you to, I don’t know. Chase away those unresolved issues?”

“All right,” he said. “Will you toss this down to me?” He started taking off his Starfleet jacket again. Lilly nodded mutely. Now that the time had come, the room seemed vast and frightening without picturing his commanding presence inside it. He walked over and handed it to her. Unconsciously, she pulled it close as she watched him position himself to climb out of the window.

“Please be careful, Commander,” she blurted out, moving as close to the window as she dared.

“I will,” he said, without the smile this time. His expression and body language all told her he was focused on his current mission. 

Lilly knew she should stand back in case the rope frayed and broke explosively, but she couldn’t resist pressing close to the closed window beside the one he was climbing from. She hugged his jacket closer than she already had, and noted that she liked the way it smelled. There was something intimate and forbidden about that knowledge, and she knew that Q in particular might not understand the significance, but probably still disapprove.

That thought made her take in another deep, heady breath, as a sort of rebellion.

Finally, the tension on the rope lifted, and she let herself lean out to look down. Riker was standing safely on the sidewalk in front of the building.

“Five hours,” he said, looking up at her. She hung his jacket down and released it reluctantly. Letting go of it felt like letting go of his protection, and she felt bereft.

Instead of calling for the arch immediately, he walked purposefully toward a walkway between two houses across the street and disappeared from sight. Lilly studiously refused to allow herself to smell her hands to see if they smelled like him. She pulled the rope up, shut the window on her side, and let the rope fall to the ground out of sight behind the sideboard.

Lilly wondered how upset Moriarty would be when he saw Riker was missing.

It was only then that she realized that she would likely bear the brunt of his frustration. She and Riker had spent so much time figuring out a mode of escape and fighting about who would take it that they hadn’t decided how to protect her from reprisal!

“Okay, how do I do this?” Lilly said aloud.

As soon as the words left her lips she knew exactly what to do. In the commotion, Riker had left his side of the window open, but that lent her some credibility. Since she didn’t have a good sense of how much time had passed, Lilly moved quickly over to the sitting room door. When shut, she could touch the wood of the door and the knob with no concern about hitting the force field. All she would need to do would be to crack the door in order to activate Moriarty’s makeshift sensory deprivation chamber.

Lilly rested her head on the wood of the door to listen for any noises. She was just about to risk opening it with no indication of what might be going on in the sitting room when she heard Maude speaking to another woman. With a hand that trembled from the effects of accumulated stress, Lilly turned the knob slowly. Counting seconds inside of her head, she pushed the door open with a fingertip once the latch was disengaged.

Luckily, the door was heavy, and the realism provided by the holodeck meant that its hinges did not squeak as they might have in a real home of that age. The door slid open very slightly, making no noise--or, more accurately, making no noise that Lilly could hear. She was back in the world of dampened sound and opaque room-dividers.

She sat down to wait for the reckoning.

888888888888

Will walked through the neat alleyways, always turning away from 221B Baker Street. He wanted to test just how much of the holodeck he could traverse before being stopped by its limitations.

He seriously considered finding that area and staying there for a few hours. This would lock the configuration so that Moriarty would be unable to connect the Holmes location to Holodeck E in any way he wished. Instead of actually creating a limitation, though, the Enterprise computers would probably simply adjust his and Lilly’s locations within the space. The idea of outwitting the computer just by existing somewhere on the holodeck was shortsighted. After all, the way the holodeck worked was with clever use of projections and perspective.

“Computer: arch,” Will said. The arch appeared behind him. He stared at it, wondering if he ought to overpower one of the high society holographic characters he’d passed on the street so he could toss them through the doorway. Lilly had told him that Picard had tossed a book through the door shortly before Moriarty had stepped through. That meant just taking an object with him might not be enough to prove that the Enterprise he was stepping into was real.

Will stood and looked at the arch for five full minutes, trying to decide how best to determine whether he was walking onto the corridor in the real Enterprise or a holographic version of it, leading to Holodeck E.

Then he realized the solution.

Will walked through the doors and immediately tapped at his communicator.

“Riker to Troi?”

_ “Troi here. Where are you!?” _

He smiled. Her voice was just on the professional side of frantic. “Can I meet you in your office?”

_ “Do you need Beverly? Is Lilly with you?” _

“No to both,” Will said grimly. “Riker out.”

888888888888

Lilly sat waiting for someone to come for her for what she estimated to be about twenty minutes. Maude came through the hallway door, moving with the kind of decorum that told Lilly that the mysterious countess was probably following closely behind. The maid’s mouth moved as if announcing the visitor, but Lilly could not hear what she said.

The woman that came in through the door definitely had the bearing of an important, regal sort of person. She had striking dark eyes, a magnificent swept up hairdo, and her dress was a shocking color of pink that would have looked garish in any configuration in Lilly’s own time, she was sure, but looked elegant on the countess, somehow.

At the moment that the countess recognized that Lilly couldn’t actually hear, she made an attractive sort of disappointed face. The woman swept out into the hallway and spoke something that looked like a command, her face tipped up toward the ceiling. Immediately, the misty film across the force field disappeared, and so did the sound suppression. Lilly stood to greet her.

“Hello, my dear. I had not realized that James’s contraption was still active. I do apologize,” the countess said as she reentered the room. “I am Countess Regina Barthalomew, delighted to make your acquaintance. I’m afraid James did not tell me your name.” The way she said her first name, as ‘Re-GINE-a’ rather than ‘geena’ at the end.

“The professor didn’t tell you because I didn’t tell him,” Lilly said pleasantly. “‘Miss Picard’ will work nicely though. It’s nice to meet you, Countess Barthalomew.”

The countess blinked rapidly in polite surprise, but her rally was admirable. “Ahh, Picard, yes, I recognize that name. You’re related in some way to the captain of this vessel! Please, would you accompany me to the sitting room? I imagine you would be glad to be rid of this room. We’ll just need to nip over to wherever James has placed your companion.”

In the flurry of introductions, Lilly had actually forgotten that she wasn’t initially alone in the room. 

“Sorry to interrupt, madam countess?” Maude said, bobbing a curtsey.

“Yes?”

Lilly stared at the floor as soon as the maid started talking.

“The officer was placed, that is, he is, was…” Maude stopped, taking a deep breath. “He was here, madam. Not another room.”

“Do you mean to tell me the soldier James was detaining is missing?” the countess asked, her genteel accent still maintaining its pleasing timbre even in astonishment. “How could that be possible? Miss Picard?”

“He was here, yes,” Lilly confirmed.

“And you saw nothing?” Finally, some steel started to seep into the other woman’s tone. “I find deceit most upsetting, young lady.”

Lilly walked to the middle of the room. “When you walked in, you saw a barrier here, did you not?” she asked, gesturing to the place where the field had been. “I can only assume he left through the window.”

“How did the door come to be open, might I ask?” the countess asked primly.

“The professor left it open when he left.” Lilly made eye contact with Maude, waiting to see if her loyalties lay with her employer or the person who might be able to save her from the ‘emptiness.’

Maude stayed quiet.

“So you had to remain here in silence, alone? That is most upsetting! To be left behind in the hands of a relative stranger must be hard to bear. Come, we’ll fortify you with some tea.” 

The countess held out her arm, and with an encouraging smile at Maude, Lilly took it, walking out into the hallway as if there were no barriers. She was soon seated in the sitting room with a small plate of pastry and a delicate matching cup and saucer filled with a bold, sweet tea to sip on. Their conversation was polite and shallow; Lilly got the impression that they were both trying to feel each other out.

In the middle of their discussion about a book the countess had been reading, she suddenly set her teacup on the saucer and pinned Lilly with a direct look.

“Did you know that the soldier was going to attempt to escape, my dear?”

“No,” Lilly said quickly, lifting her chin. She had hoped the other woman hadn’t remembered or wasn’t bothered by that discrepancy. Though she was telling the truth, Lilly knew that the countess wouldn’t quite understand, so she elaborated. “I assumed he would succeed.”

The other woman’s lips curved up into a smile even as she shook her head disapprovingly. “I cannot say that I blame you, even though you must know, that is a most  _ outrageous _ thing to say to me.”

Lilly offered her an apologetic smile. “Your reaction isn’t the one I’m worried about, to be honest.”

“Oh, you mean James?” the countess said. She looked surprised at first, but seconds later, she glanced up at the ceiling and nodded, wincing.

“I’ve read about him. He is ruthless,” Lilly said, shivering. “You seem very nice! I can’t reconcile--” Lilly stopped herself. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to insult you,” she added. Her instinct was to encourage this genteel, intelligent woman to question the situation that had brought her to a man like Moriarty, but Lilly didn’t want to push too hard, too quickly.

“Have you ever been in love, Miss Picard?” the countess asked, setting her saucer on the table beside her chair and clasping her hands together in her lap.

The instinctive truth leaped to Lilly’s lips--’no.’ It felt  _ wrong _ somehow, though, and instead of saying anything, she stared at the countess. Seconds passed, during which she focused on the lace on the woman’s shirt while internally, her mind raced. She didn’t  _ think _ she’d ever been in love, but when she tried to respond in that way, it felt so much like a lie that the response dusted in her mouth.

“What an intriguing reaction!”

“I--” Lilly shook her head, but even that felt as deceptive as her earlier response to the negative about Riker’s escape. Surely a person knew if they’d ever been in love, even if that was a fleeting thing? With that, an image of Q’s affectionate expression as he looked at her flashed through her mind, and Lilly caught her breath, shaking her head much more decisively. “No, I don’t think so,” she said, wishing the words sounded more declarative than they had come out.

“But there’s someone?” the countess prompted.

“There’s someone who has feelings for  _ me, _ not the other way around,” Lilly told her.  _ Deception by misdirection is always best when there’s a kernel of truth, _ she assured herself. She sat up straight. There was a comparison to be made between Q and Moriarty, something that might help establish a connection to the countess. “He’s not a very good person. I’m a little afraid of him.”

The other woman’s expression grew ever so slightly colder, as if her muscles had tightened in recognition. “Your soldier? I would be devastated if James abandoned me, for even a moment!”

“No, no,” Lilly protested. “He’s a good man, his responsibilities--” She broke off, looking down at her own lap instead of meeting the countess’s eyes. Riker’s smile did make her heart leap a little, but Lilly put that down to his own knowledge of its attractiveness. Desperate to shift the conversation away from the Commander, she bit her lip and then said, “I couldn’t fall in love with someone I was afraid of.”

“One wouldn’t think so,” the countess said. “Sometimes we surprise ourselves. I wouldn’t give up the joys of loving James for anything.  _ Anything, _ Miss Picard. You may see, someday.”

A door opened from the hall, and Professor Moriarty walked in. Lilly looked over and saw the expression on his face when he saw the countess. It was  _ enraptured, _ devoid of the harsh businesslike manner he’d shown through her own encounter with him. Regina Bartholamew stood and rushed over to him, and the two kissed as if they’d been separated for years.

Something about Moriarty’s initial expression struck her. If she was honest with herself, it reminded her of Q. There was a level of desperate intensity that they both shared, and on both of them, it seemed disproportionate.

Lilly stood up and moved behind the chair she’d initially used as a shield between herself and the professor. It felt good to have some sort of barrier to protect herself from his reaction to Riker’s escape. She looked away from the two lovers, and gave into the reckless temptation to get away from her thoughts and her own captivity.

“Computer, arch?”

The arch and the doors behind it appeared in the same place they had been on her first arrival in this simulation.

“Go on, if you must, but no escape awaits you,” Moriarty said, behind her.

“Because it’s a lie?” Lilly said without turning around. “Is it always the false exit, when accessed from this room? The one that’s still in the holodeck?”

The professor’s face twisted into a proud smirk. “Well spotted. How galling it must have been for you to have been unable to communicate as such to your uncle, earlier.” He watched her while the countess walked over and settled back into her seat.

Lilly held his gaze with as blank a face as she could manage, but squeezed the fabric-covered back of the chair to steady herself. Moriarty’s eyes narrowed, and he took a step toward her.

“What makes you think the arch changes depending on the room?” he asked.

“Because the one in the room I was imprisoned in was genuine.”

The only indication of the professor’s surprise was a double blink.

“The soldier is gone, James. He escaped,” the countess said. Lilly allowed herself to look away from Moriarty to glance over to her. She had one hand resting elegantly in her lap, but the other’s knuckles were white as she clutched the arm of her chair.

“Escaped,” Moriarty breathed out. The muscles around his jaw bulged for a second, and then he sucked in a deep breath. “No matter. There is no possible communication between the true ship and my own version. All he can do is sail in a circle, waiting for my next move.” He flicked his eyes over Lilly, his eyes lighting up with an ugly sort of excitement. “And he didn’t take you with him! What an inadequate, churlish guardian he proved to be.”

“I ordered him to go,” Lilly said, feeling the color rise in her cheeks. “Demanded, rather. With my uncle caught in your illusion, the ship needs him more than I do.”

“Noble of you,” the countess said. The teacup she lifted up from its saucer clinked, china against china, as her hand shook.

“Perhaps, Regina. But, my dearest, would you expect me to abandon you so callously even if you demanded it? Particularly not if I were bonded as a soldier to protect such a fair, helpless creature? No, no,” Moriarty declared, turning first to his beloved and then to Lilly. “Argue against me as I assume you must, but I find this Riker’s behavior quite lacking.”

Lilly bit the inside of her lip to stop herself from rising to his bait. The ideal outcome was for Moriarty to see her as a valueless hostage, but _ also _ that Riker was a poor officer to have left her behind, despite that.

“The computer should never have allowed you to open the arch in that room in the first place. How extraordinary, to find flaws in even such an advanced contraption, don’t you think, my love?” Moriarty said, walking over to lay a hand on her shoulder. Immediately, the countess laid her own atop his, but Lilly still saw relief in the woman’s features. Lilly understood this to mean that she had expected the professor to be furious, another indication of the undercurrent of fear between her and Moriarty.

If Lilly were careful, she might be able to use it to her advantage. “I guess it was an inadequate prison, then?” she said, smiling at the pair.

“Would you prefer a dungeon?” Moriarty asked, his tone casual.

“James, no, you cannot! She may stay in  _ my _ company. She’s clearly frightened of you, and in that I am protected, do you not think?” the countess said, turning her face up toward Moriarty and placing both of her hands around his in supplication. Everything about her behavior spoke of a sweet, loving partner, but as Lilly watched, the countess turned her head for just a moment and fixed Lilly with a look so determined that Lilly felt she’d been struck numb by it. The message was received loud and clear: Regina Bartholamew was not to be trifled with. Lilly would owe her something intangible, something yet to be collected on, for her intervention.

“Of course,” Lilly said, dipping her head down and using a soft, shy voice.

To her surprise, Moriarty laughed, a hearty, full-throated sound. When he stopped, he pulled free from the countess and walked right over to where Lilly was standing.

“You are no more meek than my Regina is soft-hearted! Those aspects are but a fraction of each of you, with intelligence as the larger part. Allow me to assure you, however: if you harm her, I will set your ship ablaze.” His blue eyes were fierce and full of certainty.

“I understand,” Lilly told him.

He strode back over to the countess Bartholamew, his back to Lilly. She could hear them whispering to each other. At one point, the countess gasped, saying, “Oh, James!” After a few minutes, Moriarty straightened up.

“I am off to my study, then, my love!” Moriarty said, pulling the countess to her feet with both hands. “I do not have full control of the ship yet--but I will. Do not let her out of your sight,” he said, his expression soft, but his voice firm. “We will reconvene for dinner.”

Silently, the countess watched Moriarty as he left, staying silent until after the door had clicked shut behind him. “Come, sit. You see? You are quite safe.” She settled back into her chair, smoothing her skirts with a steady hand.

“As safe as a prisoner awaiting execution,” Lilly said. She could hear the way her captors’ use of language was affecting her own, and didn’t know whether she liked it or not.

“Nonsense!” the countess declared. “More like a cherished pet who must be given up before a journey. James tells me the captain will help us find a way to truly leave this place. You are here merely as an inducement.” Her smile didn’t reach her eyes.


	7. Encirclement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lilly and Will each have their own plans for how to rescue the Enterprise from Moriarty's clutches, but unfortunately, the professor seems to have plans of his own.

###  Chapter Seven: Encirclement

As soon as Will saw Deanna, he knew she was real. Her mind touched his, concerned and relieved. It didn’t take long to explain the trick that Moriarty had used to keep the captain and Data from coming back.

“I don’t think you should come back to the Bridge,” she told him, leaning against the wall beside the door. They were still standing in the positions they’d first seen each other in, consumed in catching up. “Doctor Crusher has been the one in communication with Moriarty.”

“She wasn’t here last time. That’s smart,” Will said.

“Worf stands beside her, glowering,” Deanna said, breaking into a smile. “I can’t sense anything from Moriarty, but his body language tells me he’s frustrated. Beverly’s been acting as if she has no authority to make firm decisions. She’s also pretended to be confused about what he’s asking us for.”

“Knowing I’ve escaped but still having to deal with her will add to that,” Will nodded. “What has he demanded?”

“A way to leave the holodeck,” Deanna said, simply.

Will sighed. “So, the impossible. What about the stars we’re positioned to observe? Has Moriarty gained control of propulsion?”

“He has,” Deanna confirmed. “The ship is not strong enough to withstand the resulting shockwave without major damage and loss of life. We’ve put an emergency plan in place for that possibility, including moving the bulk of the ship’s population into the limited areas of the ship that might provide enough protection. Geordi has designed a protocol revolving around generators we’ve placed in each location. If necessary, they should be able to encapsulate each section, protecting those inside from as much of the shockwave as possible.” Deanna looked grim. “We’re planning to put all of the children into shuttlecraft and getting them out of the danger zone if it comes to that.”

“Good work,” Will said, smiling. “I don’t know how much Moriarty can monitor the ship at large, but your preparations should indicate that you’re not caving to his demands. Now,” he squared his shoulders and looked down at Deanna, his expression turning serious. “We need to make sure those preparations aren’t necessary. Moriarty has tied Holodeck Three to Holodeck E; we should see if there’s a way to disable one or the other, to disturb the ruse.”

“Is Moriarty unique?” Deanna asked him.

He frowned. “I certainly hope so.”

“No,” she said patiently. “I mean, can there be only one of him? We’ve avoided using any of the other holodecks in case doing so might allow him to duplicate himself.”

That thought was sobering. The more he examined the possibility, though, the more he rejected it.

“He’s limited by his imagination,” Will said, shaking his head. “He’s a man of his time.”

“Not everyone is limited by their birth century,” Deanna noted. Will felt a gentle touch on his mind at this, as if she’d poked him the power of their mental connection.

“Understood, Counselor,” he teased back with a blinding grin. “If you didn’t have to worry about duplicates, what would you do?”

888888888888

Lilly wouldn’t have caught it if she hadn’t been looking in the exact right place.

She’d been focused on the pattern of the floor, an intersection of carpet and rugs, in an attempt to come up with a plan. So far, she had scattered puzzle pieces’ worth of plan elements, but without the image on the box, she was adrift. So when the carpet she was staring at suddenly seemed to both shrink in width and move towards her on the floor, she took notice.

The Countess was reading something on the chair nearby, but was so engrossed in whatever it was (complete with little comments such as ‘oh, how clever’ and ‘by George!’) that she didn’t seem to see Lilly twitch in her chair in surprise.

Lilly had been using the width of the tassels on one rug to measure the distance between two others. It was a mindless exercise, something she’d done many times before, with holes in a drop ceiling, filigree designs on a meeting room floor, even the student drawings she’d hung on the walls of her classroom. After the strange shifting of the room, Lilly counted again. The number of tassels had shrunk by half.

Riker was safe, Lilly decided. He’d done…  _ something, _ something that had limited the usable space Moriarty had to conduct his various holodeck illusions. With any luck, the computer had stolen something small from everywhere it could, including wherever Lt. Commander Data happened to be. The real question was whether the locations of individual holographic characters would require further adjustments. Could Lilly cause more shifts by persuading the Countess that they needed to be in separate rooms?

One obvious solution to this was the vial of laudanum she had in her pocket. That was quite a bit more overt than requesting to be left alone to nap in a different room, though. The more Lilly thought about using that vial, the more she realized she didn’t want to use it on Moriarty. The chances that the man needed to be awake and aware in order to disable any number of nefarious control mechanisms were too great.

She was just about to decide what aspect of the room to memorize in case the shrinking event happened again when the door burst open.

“My love, I must ask you to give up your companion for a few minutes,” the professor said hurriedly.

If he was in a hurry, Lilly’s instinct was to delay. She stretched as if waking up from a cramped position.

“What is it, James?” the Countess asked.

“I’ve persuaded the captain to try a few things. If they succeed, we may be closer to the goal of autonomy.”

“What does that have to do with me?” Lilly asked, making a show of rubbing her eyes.

“I am not a simpleton, young lady. If you will not move under your own power, I will move you myself,” Moriarty warned.

“Wouldn’t that make the Countess jealous?” Lilly asked, standing up for another round of stretches. 

It wasn’t likely, but she was hoping the dress she wore might be tested to the limit of some of the more intricate stitches, requiring her to change. If Moriarty left Regina to her own devices in the drawing room during that time, it might tie up three rooms in their holodeck space. Moriarty’s existence as a hologram with the ability to disappear from one place and into another meant that he could easily move from Holodeck 3 to Holodeck E without using the tunnel. However, he didn’t seem to spend his time in the emptiness that Maude had mentioned. He had a physical study, she was almost sure of it. With Lilly in the dressing room, Moriarty in his study, and the Countess in the drawing room, that left less real estate to deceive the captain and Data.

“Will it be evening soon?” she blurted out.

“What?” Moriarty asked, obviously distracted by the notebook in his hand.

“Don’t you dress for dinner? I mean, differently than I’m dressed now? The maid called this a ‘day dress.’”

Moriarty looked at her with narrowed eyes. He drew in a quick breath, and said, “One of my sources told me that your soldier climbed down from the window on a rope. I’d like that back now, please.”

Lilly smiled. “‘Back’ implies it was yours in the first place, wouldn’t it?”

“So you came into a synthetic environment already in possession of a rope? How peculiar? Do starships require rigging?”

She supposed that the electronic commands sent back and forth to steer the ship were as much rigging as nervous system, but she didn’t say that aloud. “So everything created in this space belongs to you? Does that include the Countess, then?” she said, instead, as she handed the rope over.

Regina’s eyes flashed her indignance, but Moriarty’s shone with an unsettling kind of respect. “I presumed you mentioned clothing in an attempt to facilitate your own aerial exit! But your mind games will bear no fruits of dissent here. Regina is my equal, not my possession. Any sense of deference she shows to me is simply the result of her good breeding, nothing more.”

_ This _ was an interesting development. The professor was facing Lilly, not the Countess, and thus could not see his lover’s face. Lilly could, though--and Regina didn’t look quite as confident as he did, as he’d been speaking. Before Lilly had a chance to dig into the weakness she might have found, though, Moriarty spoke again.

“Delightful as this repartee is, I must remove you from this room. Some of your fellow crewmates have an experiment to perform. If they succeed, our next destination will be the unknown, with the entire galaxy at our disposal!” He reached back to squeeze the Countess’s hand, stretching the other out in a gesture toward the hallway door for Lilly.

“You want to see the stars?” Lilly asked, surprised. She’d forgotten that though every one of them was ‘out of time’ in their own way, she was the only one with a prohibition on exploring this advanced new century. After walking over to the door, she turned to look at the Countess. “Speaking of deference and propriety, you may find, during your planned exploration, that you don’t have to be led by a man to be seen as having ‘good breeding.’”

“Is that why your soldier left you behind, hmm?” Regina asked her with sharp amusement. “To scold us? Or was it to avoid your tongue?”

_ Score! _ Lilly thought to herself, even as she let her expression fall as if she’d been rebuked.

“I will return,” Moriarty said, moving toward Lilly but addressing the Countess. 

He ushered her through the hallway and into a room she hadn’t yet seen. It was larger than the shape of the house would seem to allow for, but Lilly assumed that wasn’t much of a constraint for Moriarty. Two different chalkboards were set up at opposite ends, with a large desk between. The desk was piled high with papers held down by various interesting paperweights, and though there was a chair on either side of it, Moriarty led her toward a low couch instead.

“Absent a lavish meal, you’ll have to make do with tea,” he said, gesturing to the table next to the couch. There, waiting next to a polished silver tea service, was the most delicious-looking collection of baked goods she’d ever seen. It was quite an upgrade from the food and drink in the first room she’d been held in, but Lilly suspected that was rather the point.

“I’m fine, thank you,” she said, sitting as far away from the sweet-smelling food as possible.

“Oh, come now! The only person you’d be punishing is yourself. The mind works best when well fuelled, as I’m sure you know.”

The words were spoken jovially, but when Lilly looked over at the professor, he was moving with purpose from desk to chalkboard back to desk, shuffling papers and studying diagrams. He’d removed his suit coat.

“This is mostly sugar and empty calories, so I doubt it,” Lilly said, mostly to herself. “You seemed a bit miffed about my comments to your lady friend,” she told him, scooting back on her corner of the couch and crossing her ankles. The cut of her dress made her initial goal of crossing one knee over the other feel too awkward to attempt.

“Condescension designed to divide us is hardly worth any effort to rebuff.” The sounds of his movement stopped, so Lilly looked up to see that he was standing at his desk, leaning forward on his fists and looking at her. “The attempt was beneath you, unless you truly are ignorant of the way genuine partners behave with each other. Are you merely unmarried, or also otherwise unloved?”

“That was a swing through the mud, professor,” Lilly said. Inwardly, the only thing she could say to herself was  _ yikes. _

She would have preferred to spar with him about nearly anything else. Her life had been decidedly without romantic interest until quite recently, and could anyone in the breadth of the universe relate to being the object of Q’s ‘affection?’

“I don’t take kindly to anything that might hurt Regina,” Moriarty said. He’d just picked up a page from his desk that appeared to be some kind of breakthrough, and he spoke with an absent tone that implied this wasn’t much of a revelation.

He was wrong, though. He’d figuratively handed her the frame for the artwork she’d already started sketching.

“She does seem like a perfect match for you,” Lilly said, carefully crafting her begrudging tone. “Do you think she took my comment to heart? I didn’t mean for it to cause injury. I wanted her to think about the world you’re pushing her out into.”

Lilly watched Moriarty through her eyelashes as she traced a finger along one of the plates of food. He had looked toward her after her first statement, his gaze drawn to the movement of her hand.

“You are quite transparent, you know. ‘Any thinking woman would leave this man in an instant,’ you seem to be saying. As if only the most moral and true-hearted men have loved ones!” He sounded smugly dismissive.

Lilly broke a corner off of the nearest cookie and brought it to her mouth as if she didn’t wish to be caught.

“Damn,” she said.

“Astute observation?”

“Good cookie,” she corrected.

Moriarty laughed.

She saw that she had his attention, so she made eye contact with him and poured on the sincerity. “Even if that was a good point, it’s made by a bad man, an amoral man, so the inherent logic might be flawed. It could be simple rationalization: ’She deserves better, but don’t they all? Who am I to consign half of all women to spinsterhood for the want of more genuinely good men?’” Lilly took the rest of the cookie as if it were an act of defiance.

“Your logic is fatally flawed,” he told her, pulling on his suit jacket again as he walked over. “We cannot choose who we love. We may avoid the ‘wrong’ company, may rebuff with our voices and our hearts, but still, love may prevail. To reject a suitor, the most dedicated philosophical architect might erect a cathedral with reason and logic as its bricks and mortar, and  _ still, _ love may prevail.”

“Professor--” Lilly needed to make him stop. All in a rush, she felt a terrible suspicion that this entire scenario was designed by Q, but even if it wasn’t, she did  _ not _ want to hear this.

“What matters are the two of you, not the world you find yourselves in. If our relationship fails because of what we discover after we leave this place, our relationship was bound to fail even if we never left at all,” Moriarty said.

“Does the Countess like tea?” Lilly asked in a small voice. She’d planned all along to ask, but she didn’t have to manufacture her dismay.

Moriarty was magnanimous. “She does.” He directed his next words to the ceiling. “Mr. Computer, confine Miss Picard with a force field to restrict her movement to within one meter of the couch when alone in the room.” Walking over to the door, he opened it, then turned to face her. “If you wish to apologize to Regina, I can bring her with me when I return?”

“Yes, thank you,” Lilly said. Her blood raced so loudly in her own ears that she was afraid Moriarty would sense her excitement. She tried to temper her reaction by crushing the heel of one shoe onto the toes of the other.

The professor nodded with satisfaction and left. As soon as the door closed, Lilly sprung to her feet, wincing as she put weight on the one she’d just injured. She tested the size of the space he’d provided with an empty teacup, counting the seconds out in her head until she’d reached one hundred and twenty. Then, she took a deep breath, let it out, and spoke.

“Maude? I need you.”

888888888888

“Worf, you’ve got a report?” Will asked. He’d set up shop in his office, unwilling to risk being in the Ready Room in case Moriarty managed to isolate the Bridge. Given how temperamental the villain was, it wasn’t out of question for him to call at odd times and simply catch Will in the act of leading the crew. Will hoped to keep Moriarty on edge by staying out of sight.

“Sir, Engineering has finished setting up their simulations in all remaining holodecks. Ship protocols will prevent them from being reclaimed without an authorization code,” the Klingon said.

They were doing reports in person, both to keep important personnel scattered throughout the ship should any of the quadrants be restricted by Moriarty, and also to keep him from monitoring the comms.

“How often do we need to send someone in there to maintain the lockout?” Will asked.

“Ensign Freeland expressed concern that the timekeeping may have been tampered with. I recommend every thirty minutes.”

“All right, then.” Will grinned, then said, “Make it so.”

Worf nodded soberly, but his eyes showed his approval. Before touching the panel to open the door, he said, “Alexander expects Lilly to stop by before bed. He has been… most persistent in asking if she will be able to find him in our evacuation quarters.”

Nothing in the other man’s demeanor signalled disapproval, but Will felt the weight of it anyway. The two were close. Deep down, he felt a strange surge of pride for Lilly’s determination to maintain that friendship even with Q’s sustained presence in her life this month. Q and Worf genuinely hated each other.

“Sir?”

_ Shit, _ Will thought to himself. He needed to stop being distracted by that woman. Aloud, he said, “Best to tell him she has to miss it. I told her we’d get her out of there in five hours, and that cuts a bit into your son’s sleep schedule, I’d imagine.”

“Understood, sir.”

It was only after the door slid closed behind the Klingon that Will considered the possibility that it was  _ Worf _ that Q had wanted to erase from Lilly’s memory. Immediately, aspects of their friendship and closeness strung together like beads in his mind, one after the other. Her attachment to Alexander. Their standing dinner dates, which Will had only discovered after Worf had mentioned them during a schedule meeting.

He spun his chair to snag his PADD and had already searched their two names in conjunction before the realization of how much it was  _ not his business _ came crashing down. That meant nothing once he saw the first entry that had come up: the registration of Lilly Picard as  _ Soh-chim _ for Alexander Rozhenko.

Will sat back in his chair.

Would Worf have done something that lasting if he were just friends with Lilly? He scratched his beard. It seemed obvious that Q would have wiped this, if it was a sign of a relationship between the two. Reluctantly, Will brought up the whole record and scanned it.

There  _ was _ a unique marking that showed that the file had been edited. It took a matter of seconds to call up the last ten backups of the same file, though only five existed. That meant it had been created that many weeks beforehand. Each of the backups bore the same edit signature, and Will couldn’t resist a smile of satisfaction. Q may be omnipotent, but he didn’t know what he didn’t know: the Enterprise file system was designed in such a way that changes were meticulously documented. Not only that, but the signatures of such changes were different, depending on their source. 

With a few commands, Will was able to list the number of changes that matched the signature of the  _ Soh-chim _ file.

_ “Bridge to Lieutenant Thomas?” _

It was Beverly’s voice, speaking the code that told him that Moriarty had made contact with her. A Lieutenant Thomas did actually exist. She worked in Medical, and was in on their code. Unfortunately, the signal meant that Will had a few things he needed to take care of before he could take a good look at the list he’d just generated.

With reluctance, he took a snapshot of the information to send to the computer in his quarters. The filenames scrolled through in order, slower than they had actually processed, he knew. In actual speed, only Data would be able to read them. They were still quick, though, so Will only got a surface-level glimpse of the list itself.

Oddly, his own file was on there multiple times.

888888888888

Lilly was standing with her teacup poised next to the barrier Moriarty had set up when Maude appeared in front of her. Instantly, Lilly handed the maid the cup--  _ through _ where the barrier should have been.

“Excellent,” Lilly said, delighted.

“What is it you’re needing, Miss?” Maude asked, her tone fearful.

“Are you not allowed in here, then?”

“Not often, truth be told.”

“Well, sit down and enjoy some tea. I just need to look for something of mine that your master has taken,” Lilly said determinedly, starting for Moriarty’s desk.

“I’m-- If you… What’s he taken, then? Maybe I could--”

Lilly was only half-listening, staring at the monumental task of figuring out what was important in the sea of information that lay before her. She decided right away that the drawers were probably connected to an alarm that would signal that they’d been tampered with.

“Miss?” Maude was pouring from the stately teapot, the stream wobbling despite the way she was trying to steady it with both hands.

“Yes, actually, that’s a great idea. Just one cup, if you don’t mind? I have plans for the rest of the pot. Besides, it’s warmer all together,” Lilly said, looking back at the papers. “Computer, can you simply take a picture and keep it in a file? I’m not asking you to send it to anybody or anything. Just an image.”

_ “Name of containing file?” _

“Hell yes. Wait, no, that’s not the filename!” Lilly clapped one hand over her mouth. “Ship in a Bottle, that’s the filename. Ship in a Bottle.”

A success chime sounded.  _ “File created. Do you wish to create a keyword?” _

“You mean like, I say the word, and you take a picture? Is it of the thing I’m looking at, or of the thing in my hand? I mean, if it’s of the entire environment around me every time I say the word, that’s going to take a  _ lot _ of disc space,” Lilly said.

“Miss, what is it that he’s taken?”

“My ship,” Lilly said. She put a finger in front of her lips.

_ “Protocol created: input keyword for perspective image?” _

Lilly knew she had to rush, so she picked something she wouldn’t mention ordinarily, but wasn’t something she’d have to struggle to work into a casual comment, just in case.

“Heels.” There was a success chime.

_ “Input keyword for tactile image?” _

“Queen,” Lilly said, her mind a complete blank. Another chime sounded. Now for the work of trying to help the ship, preferably in a way she could send to Riker. Figuring out how to get it to him, though… that was a problem for when she wasn’t in an incredible time crunch. Maude walked over to stand on the other side of the desk, but Lilly was busy.

“Heels,” she said, looking at the desk as a whole. She turned and looked at each blackboard and repeated the word. Then, scanning the desk, she saw a page with the outline of the Enterprise on it. It shocked her, but she picked it up. “Queen.”

Lilly had triggered the image capture before she’d even read what was on the page, but as she read it, she got excited. It was mostly incomprehensible, but the gist seemed to be the scaffolding of a protocol to create a realistic holodeck program for an extended period of time.

A  _ very _ extended period of time.

She hadn’t intended to, but Lilly slumped onto Moriarty’s chair in shock. What she’d just discovered didn’t mean much in context with the star collision the ship was positioned to witness. It showed that Professor James Moriarty was poised, prepared,  _ planning _ to trap them all in his illusion for as long as it took. She stood back up and tried to think back to where exactly she’d seen the paper, both so she could put it back, and so she could see what was in the pile she’d snagged it from.

_ “Miss!” _ Maude’s sudden desperate plea triggered Lilly’s fight or flight reflex.

“What?” Lilly half-shouted. “I’m sorry. What?” she amended.

“If you’ll not be needing me, I’m sure you’ll understand, that is to say, the professor has been quite clear about where I am and am not allowed to be.”

“I’ll hurry, I promise. I do actually need you physically here, and not to take the blame for me. In fact, I’ll go as far as to say you’ll be able to go in three minutes,” Lilly said. It felt like a good ten minutes had passed since her captor had left, and she didn’t want to push her luck.

Looking up, she saw that Maude was wringing her hands.

“Almost done. As soon as I touch the couch, you can poof, scout’s honor.”

Lilly murmured her keywords a few more times before she found another jackpot; it was a specialized set of commands and parameters in space describing an object, including when it was to dematerialize. She remembered watching Moriarty walking through the same doors that something had disappeared through. Were these his notes on how he’d managed that?

Maude made a sound of utter misery and Lilly carefully replaced the page and sprinted over to the couch. She spun around afterwards and saw that the room was empty.

“Thank goodness Maude didn’t pull a Cinderella!” she said to the empty room. If the maid had brought over the cup of tea she’d poured, there would have been no retrieving it! Lilly patted her dress, feeling for the few things she’d been able to keep. This was another facet to her plan, one far more dangerous than being caught over by Moriarty’s desk.

Pulling the object from where she’d kept it hidden, Lilly lifted the teapot’s lid and got to work.


End file.
